Convert
by orange1996x
Summary: As normal there are always girls who go for the bad guys, very bad guys in this case. However, what happens when she gets sick of them but she still likes to be kept on her toes and a bad guy turned good enters her life, but is he good? (I wrote the summary once before and it was so much better than this)
1. Chapter 1

Hi guys, I'm sorry I've been slacking with the stories but I am half way through a chapter for July Fourth but needed some inspiration and this idea came into my head and I feel like, if I start getting into the follow of writing this then I can have another go at finishing that chapter. Hope you like it. It is pretty similar to the other story but I did that to try and finish my chapter.

* * *

Gabriella Montez, as good as she seemed, seemed to attract the bad boys, the troubled boys and the manipulative boys. Little did most of these guys know was that, she wasn't a push over and if you messed with her, you would see the fiery side of her personality. Gabriella loved a bad boy as she had a thing of trying to tame them, however if she failed to do so, she wouldn't be completely disheartened as she liked the adventure and excitement in her life. Unfortunately over the years, Gabriella had discovered that a bad boy didn't only mean the leather jackets, the motorcycle, the dark clothes, it came with drugs, excessive drinking and a lifetime of cheating. She didn't like this side to it so if, or when, she discovered that a guy she was dating did any of these things while she was dating them, she would kick them to the curb without a second thought after a boyfriend of 9 months manage to hide it all from her. This was a year ago.

This is exactly what Gabriella was currently doing, she was leant back against a wall at a house party of one of her friends at college with the guy she was currently dating caging her in.

"It was just one time," The average height twenty-one year old murmured.

Gabriella sighed, tilting her head back, "How many times have I heard that," She groaned, rhetorically.

The short, dirty-blonde haired man shook his head, moving his finger tips to tilt her head so their eyes connected, "I'm serious, Gabi."

Gabriella scoffed, pushing his hand away from her, "Is that why you have it all over your fingers?" She growled, referring to the ivory coloured powder scattered on his fingers.

Said man, Jake, licked his lips, "I'll stop," He sniffed

Gabriella narrowed her dark eyes, "You are so out of it," She exclaimed.

"Sh, baby, not so loud," Jake hushed, "Plus, I'm not addicted or anything."

Gabriella shrugged, "I don't care but I don't date druggies."

"I'm not a druggie," Jake said lowly, moving closer to press his body against hers, "You know you have fun with me," He whispered, moving his head down to try and connect their lips.

"We're done," Gabriella huffed, pushing his shoulder, "Bye Jake," And with that she sauntered off with Jake turning around as she walked past him, he shook his head and took a deep breath before going back to his group of friends, one of which being his dealer and he went straight up to him to whisper some things in his ear and Gabriella watched over her shoulder as the skinny male passed the guy she was dating less than an hour ago, a small packet of powder.

Gabriella shook her head but it didn't matter because Jake nor of his group were watching or were even bothered about Gabriella now. Jake liked the look of Gabriella, like pretty much any male, so when she showed an interest in him, he jumped at his opportunity.

"Hey Gabs," An energetic blonde exclaimed, opening up her free arm to signal she wanted a hug.

"Hi Shar," Gabriella greeted, hugging her best friend.

"Where's Jake?" Sharpay Evans asked, letting go and taking a sip of her drink.

Gabriella noticed that Sharpay had a little group surrounding her and she pursed her lips, "With his dealer," She hinted.

Sharpay's eyes went wide, "No way! I was for sure certain that he wasn't like that."

Gabriella shrugged, "Me too. There's obviously something about me which turns people to hardcore shit."

Sharpay jutted her bottom lip out and offered Gabriella her drink which she eagerly took a sip out of.

Gabriella winced at the amount of alcohol Sharpay had mixed with some fizzy liquid, "Whoa Shar," She coughed lightly.

Sharpay giggled, "How did you find out?"

Gabriella licked her white upper teeth, "I found out a couple of weeks ago but I caught him again tonight and he was touching my face with the _stuff_ on his fingers."

Sharpay's eyebrows shot up, "That's nasty."

Gabriella nodded in agreement before her eyes wandering over to the group next to her and then she coked her head back at Sharpay as if to asked, who are these people?

"Oh!" Sharpay exclaimed, "These are some friends who I was in classes with last year, before you transferred here. They did a year abroad and they're back for their last year."

"Oh cool," Gabriella smiled, "So we're all going into our final year together?"

Sharpay nodded for them, "Yeah except Troy and Zeke are actually a year older, they're already twenty-two," She informed, motioning over to the group, "This is Allie, Troy, Chad, Zeke and Luke."

"Hi," Gabriella smiled, greeting them which they all returned, "I'm going to grab myself a drink and find Brody because he's probably throwing himself at about five girls at once," She and Sharpay laughed as they knew how true this was, "I'll catch you later, babe," She smiled and turned around to go in search of her friend.

As Gabriella moved through the crowd of the longue area, Troy, Chad, Zeke and Lucas all gazed after her. Their eyes either trailing down her from her head to her legs or from her legs to shoulders.

"Guys!" Sharpay and Allie exclaimed.

"Stop checking out my best friend, me and Brody already have to flick guys off of her constantly. We don't need to be doing that to four more," Sharpay teased but there was an undertone of seriousness within her voice.

"She's hot," Lucas shrugged, "And we're four straight guys appreciating the view."

"So hot," Troy husked quietly.

"No girlfriend back in Amsterdam or Italy then Troy?" Sharpay smirked.

Troy smirked back, "Nope, no girl."

"Anything else in Amsterdam?" Sharpay said but this time with a concerned look on her face.

Troy gave her a hard look, "No," He said shortly, sending Sharpay the message that he didn't want to speak about that situation.

"Ever so friendly as always," Sharpay teased.

"But seriously, tell us more about Gabriella…" Lucas grinned innocently at Sharpay.

"Let's just say she attracts a lot of guys but she doesn't necessarily pick out the good ones," Sharpay informed.

"So she likes the bad guys?" Chad questioned.

Sharpay nodded, "Kind of."

"So there's a dealer here?" Troy asked, tilting his head slightly.

Chad's head snapped around and looked at his best friend and everyone else stared wide eyed at Troy as his dull blue eyes stayed on Sharpay, effectively demanding an answer out of her.

"Yes," Sharpay nodded.

"Ok," Troy said before nodding slowly, "They're in the same group as that kid Gabriella was dating?"

Sharpay nodded silently again.

Troy swallowed thickly, his eyes now scanning the lounge area.

"Troy," Allie said, her small hand placing itself onto Troy's broad shoulder.

Troy shrugged her off, "I'm fine."

Sharpay looked worriedly at Troy, "I swear I didn't know that, that stuff would be here or else I wouldn't have begged you all to come."

Troy's eyes snapped back to Sharpay, "Shar, it's fine. I'm fine. It's everywhere, no one can escape it. It's fine," He reassured, "I just going to get some air," He coughed and picked up his beer before heading towards the back of the house and out into the backyard where, due to the weather, was considerably quieter however, there were a couple of people making out further down the yard and a couple of smokers.

"Hi," A feminine voice said from behind him.

Troy turned his head around and saw Gabriella leaning against the door frame and he nodded, once, "Hey," He replied in his deep voice.

"Came out for a cigarette?" Gabriella asked, standing up straight and standing on the step behind Troy so they were at a similar height.

Troy shrugged, "Is that why you're here?"

Gabriella shrugged, "No. I saw you walking out here and was going to try to persuade you that smoking isn't good for you and you should stop."

Troy's eyebrows shot up and a smirk graced his face, "I don't smoke, not anymore."

Gabriella nodded, "Right. You're one of them who comes out to smell it because you miss it?"

Troy shook his head, "Not really. One of the best things I've ever done was give it up."

"Oh," Gabriella said, surprised.

Troy nodded slowly, "Yeah," He mumbled, "So did you find your friend?" He asked, changing the conversation.

Gabriella nodded with a giggle, "Attached to the face of some lanky blonde."

Troy chuckled, "Doesn't sound too bad."

"That's your type too, huh?" Gabriella questioned with a smirk.

Troy shrugged, "I'm not fussy."

Gabriella nodded, "Right. You like all of them as long as they have a vagina that's available? Actually scrap that, it doesn't stop anyone these days if they are available or not." She added the last sentence on as more of a murmur to herself.

Troy's eyebrows shot up in shock of her statement, "Call me old fashioned but I don't go after a girl if she's taken in anyway, even if she's still in love with her ex. Literally in anyway. I don't cheat and I'm not going to be the kind of guy who gets caught by his fuck buddy's boyfriend."

"You are a rare one."

Troy shrugged, "I don't think so. I just think you're opinion of men is tainted."

Gabriella nodded slowly, "Maybe," She said quietly before coughing lightly, not comfortable with this conversation, "Shar said you've been away for a year?" She questioned.

"Yeah, I went to a couple of places in Europe: Amsterdam and Italy. To study," Troy explained and Gabriella was happy that Troy seemed to go along with the shift in the conversation without any question.

Gabriella crossed her arms and stepped down one more to stand next to Troy. As she stared out, straight in front of her, he turned his head to look at her, "That's cool. I know a couple of people who'd give all their money to go Amsterdam," She said with a pang of disgust.

"It's beautiful," Troy murmured.

Gabriella scoffed, "Yeah. These people would be too out of it to even bother about its history and architecture."

"Ex-boyfriends?" Troy questioned, looking out straight out in front of him again.

Gabriella took a large gulp of the liquid in a classic red cup, "Something like that."

Troy nodded a little, "We kind of overheard your conversation with Shar, obviously we were standing right there and some of us asked a few questions about you and she said that you attract a lot a guys."

Gabriella laughed slightly, "Hm, I don't know about that," She smiled, turning her head to look at him.

Troy didn't return her smile, "I can see why you do."

Gabriella's smile fell and she swallowed, "Well it doesn't matter. I don't attract the right guys."

Troy licked his lips, "Again Shar said you just gravitate towards the ones that aren't too good for you."

Gabriella clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, "Sharpay needs to keep her mouth shut," She smirked, "But yeah you could say that or that I turn these guys a little crazy," She shrugged.

Troy shrugged also, "But I'm guessing that pretty much any straight guy probably checks you out even the dumb, jackass ones."

"Did you?" Gabriella asked boldly.

Troy chuckled deeply, "I don't think it's appropriate to answer that."

Gabriella bit down on her bottom lip, "We're young so why not be bold and out there?" She asked.

Troy turned his head to look at her for a moment before biting down on his lower lip to hide a grin and turning around to walk back inside, "You have a scar on the back of your thigh," He said as he walked past her.

Gabriella grinned at his answer, "Troy!" She shouted. He turned around to face her with a neutral expression on his face, "You're jeans are Hollister."

Troy smirked and chuckled, "Naughty," He responded with a shake of his head with a grin on his face and continued his walk back inside.

Gabriella stayed outside for a minute longer before shivering and heading back inside to find Sharpay and scold her for informing them about her severe lack of skills of picking the right guy to date, "Sharpay Evans!" Gabriella called as she walked to the longue and where the group had gathered minus Troy and Allie.

"Gabriella Montez," Sharpay slurred back with a small, cheeky smile.

"Evans, do you think it's appropriate to tell people about my incapability's of dating a nice, genuine guy?" Gabriella asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Gabbbbbs, I'm sorry. I didn't think you were hiding it. It's not you, it's them anyways," Sharpay answered.

Gabriella burst out laughing at the cliché line which Sharpay truly believed in this situation, "Ok but please can you not spread anything else about my personal life?"

"Of course!" Sharpay exclaimed, blowing her a kiss as she cuddled into Zeke.

Gabriella giggled at her friend before moving around to sit on the spare couch, "So do any of you guys have any girlfriends… or boyfriends?" She asked Zeke, Chad and Lucas.

"All straight," Sharpay informed.

"I had a girlfriend since freshman year of college but we broke up before I did that year abroad," Chad told her, "But we've been in contact since I've been back so…" He trailed off.

"You're hoping for a bit of a reunion?" Gabriella filled in, questioningly.

Chad smiled, "Yeah, I hope."

"They were such a cute couple," Sharpay cooed.

Gabriella smirked at the blonde's drunken comments, "What about you Zeke?"

Zeke shrugged, "Not single but not exactly taken."

Gabriella smirked some more, looking from Zeke to Sharpay and back to Zeke, "Oh really."

Zeke nodded a little, "Yeah but like Chad, I've just been away for a year so everything's kinda up in the air."

Gabriella nodded in understanding, "Lucas?"

Lucas shrugged, "100% single, baby," He said jokingly with a wink.

Gabriella let out a short laugh, "Oh," She said with a shake of her head and a gulp of her alcoholic drink, "What about Troy?"

Chad chuckled, "They're always curious about Troy's relationship status," He said more to himself than Gabriella.

One of Gabriella's dark brown eyebrows raised, "I was curious about all of your relationship status' so people don't group me with the girls who drool over him, as it's pretty obvious they do because he's good looking," She said quickly, "Thank you very much," She said with a click of her tongue.

Chad's brows raised also, "True. I like you already Montez, you take no shit."

Gabriella smiled, "Thanks," She said, more sincerely this time.

A tall, handsome man and a smaller, but taller than Gabriella, woman with light brown hair entered the living room both laughing. The group looked up with curiosity before realising it was Troy and Allie. As the two were too busy chatting and laughing, Gabriella got to check out what Troy really looked like. He was around 6 foot, 2, maybe 3 but more likely 2, he had mid-brown coloured hair which was style casually and messily, he had dull blue eyes, large hands, broad shoulders and obvious muscles and a strong jaw topped off with a little bit of facial hair. Covering this casually gorgeous man was a pair of mid-wash jeans and a black t-shirt with a pair of well-worn converse.

"Hey lovebirds," Chad teased.

Troy shot him a glare, "Not funny."

Gabriella frowned a little but quickly wiped it from her face to replace it with a neutral expression, "So you're the only one with a girlfriend?"

Troy turned around to see that Gabriella was sitting on the couch behind him. Noticing that she was on her own and therefore went to sit next to her, "No, I'm single."

"Oh," Gabriella responded looking over at Allie who had to sit on her own armchair.

"Gabriella was wondering about your relationship status earlier Troy," Zeke informed.

Gabriella scoffed, "You guys are the worst when it comes to gossip but I was actually asking everyone."

Troy nodded twice and smirked, "Oh, so tell me about these guys."

"Chad wants to get back with his ex and Zeke and Shar are close and Lucas is 100% single, baby," Gabriella grinned, looking over at Lucas who let out a loud laugh.

"I feel like we're missing something," Allie said, looking between Lucas who was laughing and shaking his head and Gabriella who was grinning.

"It's nothing," Lucas laughed once more, "I agree with Chad, I like you already."

"Are you interested in getting to know me?" Allie asked.

Gabriella's head snapped over to look at Allie, "Sure," She shrugged, "Are you dating anybody?" She asked with a small smile.

"No, I don't really date, what about you?" Allie asked.

"I was dating this guy for a couple of months but we weren't official or anything and I ended that tonight," Gabriella told her, "Which sucks but it had to be done."

"Why does it suck? It obviously wasn't that good if you two weren't official after a couple of months," Allie said with a fake smile.

Gabriella frowned a little, feeling a little defensive, "Because I had been fucking the guy for three months so obviously I liked him and then I found out he had been doing drugs. That's why we never became official."

Allie's eyes widened momentarily, "Were you having sex with him before you started dating?"

"Allie!" Troy exclaimed.

Gabriella licked her lips harshly, "No, it's fine. I have no issue about talking about sex. I'm twenty-one years old, not a little sixteen year old kid," She said before turning back to Allie, "Yeah, the first night I met him, we slept together. And what? We're adults, we can do what we want."

"And how many guys exactly have you done that with?" Allie asked, leaning forward to lean on her hand while her elbow rested on her thigh.

"Gabriella," Chad said, "Ignore her, you don't have to answer."

"It's fine. Ever since I was, maybe, 17. And to answer you're next question, I've been with around fifteen guys and I don't care. If you want to jump into bed with Troy, you really need to step up your game. It's so obvious you want him and you hated the fact that I asked if he was dating anyone. He's hot so you best step it up fast," Gabriella told her darkly before standing up and walking out of the room.

"Bitch," Allie murmured.

"What the fuck was that about?" Chad shouted.

Allie gave him a look, "She's a whore, the only reason you guys like her is because she has a big ass."

Troy shrugged, "I don't think she's a whore. I've been with more girls than she's been with guys. Hers average's out at 4 guys a year. That's nothing. I could used to average 4 girls in less two months."

Allie scoffed, "Whatever. The girls you used to hook up with weren't much better than her."

"Really?" Troy tested, eyeing her down.

"That wasn't cool Allie," Sharpay commented after a moment of tension.

"You saw what she was wearing!" Allie exclaimed, taking her eyes off Troy, "She loves the male attention!"

"Yeah and she looked good. So what if she likes the attention, everybody does to some extent," Troy stated, "If I was at a party or anywhere, I wouldn't want to be ignored."

"You guys were practically drooling over her!" Allie shouted.

"What's your problem with her anyway?" Chad asked, frowning.

"Nothing," She scoffed, "Just don't come crying to me if she breaks any of your hearts," She said and stormed out of the room.

"What the fuck was that about?" Zeke said with a shocked expression.

Sharpay shrugged, "Maybe because she's still hung up on Troy and he's not giving her the time of day anymore. And Gabs asked about Troy's relationship status which made Allie think Gabriella was interested in Troy therefore, Allie thinks of her as a threat," Sharpay analysed.

"I don't like Allie as anything more than a friend," Troy said exasperatedly as he felt as if he had said those exact words a thousand times.

"Why does she think she has a chance?" Lucas asked.

Troy pressed his lips together, "Because we slept together last summer but it was just drunk sex, it didn't mean anything."

Chad raised his eyebrows, "I should probably stop making fun of that situation shouldn't I," He asked which received multiple nods.

Sharpay felt a vibration from her cell phone in her back pocket. She wiggled out of Zeke's hold to retrieve it. She opened up the text message as she saw it was from Gabriella. Sharpay started to read out Gabriella's text: "Gabriella has asked me to tell Allie this: _Hi Shar, don't wait up. See you in the morning. Tell Allie it's the second time I've met him, she will be proud haha. Joking it's the first. Why break a satisfying tradition? Love ya x_."

"She feels ok going to a stranger's house to sleep in the presence of a stranger?" Allie asked with a tone of disbelief as she stood at the door, obviously she had not gone far.

"I don't think she'll do much sleeping," Sharpay mumbled.

Troy looked over at the blonde and smirked before laughing, "She'll be having a good night then," Troy whispered back as he was at the end of the couch, closest to the other end of the other couch where Sharpay was sitting.

Sharpay nodded at Troy then they both gave out a brief laugh.

"She reminds of Troy in high school so much," The afro haired man commented.

Troy raised an eyebrow, "How?"

"Very blunt and confident and out there and she takes no shit," Chad explained.

Sharpay nodded, "She's one of the strongest, toughest girls I've met," She agreed.

"Aw," Zeke teased, "Aren't you the sweetest," He cooed.

JFJFJFJFJFJFJFJF

"Shar?!" Gabriella shouted as she walked into their apartment.

"Gabriella Montez!" Sharpay shouted back.

Gabriella's eyebrows shot up at the tone of her voice, "What have I done?"

"It's 2pm!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah?" Gabriella questioned as she ticked off her shoes and made her way straight to her room.

"Montez, here!" Sharpay squealed.

"Will you chill out? I need to change, I'll be out in two minutes," Gabriella huffed, walking into her room to tug off her dress from the night before and pull on some sweat pants and a loose t-shirt because as it was summer, it was still very warm. Gabriella trudged out of her room to see Sharpay, Troy, Allie and Chad sitting in the longue area.

"Hi," Gabriella said tightly.

"So nice of you to text me to inform me that's you're still alive. Not like I thought you were dead or anything," Sharpay said, sarcastically.

Gabriella rolled her eyes playfully and sat on the arm of her couch to rub the top of her head, "I was busy."

Sharpay slapped her hand away "Stop it," She said quickly.

Gabriella laughed and hugged her head, "Sorry Shar," She said cutely.

"Next time, call, text, something, ok?"

"Yep," Gabriella agreed, popping the 'p'.

"Were you just at that guy's house?" The blonde questioned her best friend.

Gabriella hopped off and grabbed a piece of candy from the bowl she was holding before walking into the kitchen, "Yep."

"All day?" Sharpay questioned, frowning.

"Yeah," She repeated.

"Really?" Sharpay asked, not believing her as it was unusual for Gabriella to come back from a guy's house so far into the day.

Gabriella appeared again in the door way of the lounge, "Yes Shar."

"Was he nice?"

"Yeah, he was really sweet. He got me coffee in bed this morning and we hung out at his place until he had to go to work," Gabriella shrugged, licking her lips.

"You look really tired, you have huge dark bags under your eyes," Allie commented with a fake smile and a shrug, "Not to be mean or anything."

Gabriella's eyes shot over to Allie and decided to dive straight into a topic she knew that she loved to hit Gabriella with, "Because I went out last night until half 1 in the morning and stayed up most of the night having sex which you obviously knew."

"You kinda look like shit, though. Just saying," Allie shrugged.

Gabriella bit down on her lower lip, "If you're going to be a bitch to me for no reason, get out."

Allie narrowed her green eyes, "I just think you seem like a little bit of a slut."

"Shar, I love you but how are you friends with this girl," Gabriella sighed, walking through the lounge and on to the large balcony where two lounge chairs were and picking up a book which was placed beneath the chair. She heard the heavy door open and shut behind her but didn't look around to acknowledge the person.

"Hey," The male voice sounded.

Gabriella looked up to see Troy who was dressed in a pair of light wash shorts and a loose light coloured t-shirt, "Hi," Gabriella replied, quietly.

"I'm sorry about Allie," Troy said, taking a seat on the other chair, facing Gabriella.

Gabriella lay her book face down on her lap, "You shouldn't be apologising for her. She's not your responsibility and she's a grown woman, she can say it herself if she wanted."

Troy pressed his lips together, "I don't know what's gotten into her."

Gabriella shrugged, looking out at the view, "She doesn't seem to like me very much. I've haven't had anyone speak to me like that in such a long time."

"No one should speak to you like that, ever. Regardless of how long it's been," Troy told her, leaning forward on his elbows, "Are you ok though? You seemed a little defeated in there."

She closed her brown eyes and lay her head against the back of the chair, "I'm tired, I'm slightly hung-over, the guy last night was a jerk and then on top of that, Allie just says untrue things about me and judges me. I just can't deal with it today," She muttered.

Troy looked at Gabriella as she spoke softly, "He was a jerk but you stayed his place for over twelve hours?" He questioned, his eyebrow raised.

A small smile brightened Gabriella's face at the fact Troy didn't pick out the Allie situation as it was obvious she didn't want to deal with her now, "Yeah. We stayed up late so I didn't actually wake up until twelve-ish and the guy wasn't there, no note or anything so I waited around for half an hour but no show so I just left and grabbed a coffee then came home."

"Why did you lie to Shar?"

"She worries about me but she doesn't need too."

Troy gave her a small smile, "I can tell she cares about you."

"She's like a big sister, borderline mom," Gabriella joked.

Troy chuckled, "Well it looks like them two are staying here for a while since Shar has called Zeke and everyone and asked them to come round to try and ease the tension."

Gabriella opened her eyes, "Why is she in my house?" She groaned.

Troy gave her half a smile, "Everyone seems to think I'm the reason she has some sort of vendetta against you."

"Oh I've noticed," Gabriella grumbled, rolling her head to the side to look at him, "But why?" She wondered.

Troy licked his pink lips, "Because we slept together last year and apparently it can't just be sex."

Gabriella's eyes flickered from Troy's lips to his eyes, "And what do you think?"

"I think that it can just be sex especially when drunk. What about you?"

"Is that a real, legitimate question?" Gabriella asked, "I'm pretty sure you already know the answer."

"Was he good?" He asked, referring to Gabriella's night.

Gabriella shrugged, "Ok, not the best, not the worst."

Troy nodded and stayed quiet for a moment, "You wanna go back inside? I'll sit right beside you," He teased, nudging her hand.

Gabriella giggled and tilted her head away from him, "Ok."

Troy grinned and stood up, holding his large hand out to help her up. Gabriella took his hand, moving the book from her lap and standing up.

"You can be whoever you want, be how ever you desire, have as much or as little sex as you want, wear the largest clothes or the tightest clothes. Don't let Allie influence how you are because I think you're pretty cool just how you are," Troy told her in a husky voice.

Gabriella swallowed as her eyes glazed over slightly while Troy stroked the back of her hand, "Are you a good guy or a bad guy in disguise?" She asked quietly.

Troy raised his hand to her elbow and let his hand glide down her forearm as he spoke, "What about a bad guy turned good?" He questioned before leading the way out from the balcony and back into the lounge.

Gabriella followed a minute later after trying to understand what he was hinting. She instantly walked over to Shar and sat on her with a big smile, "Hi fav," She said, cheekily, 'fav' being short for favourite.

Sharpay laughed, "Hi, you've cheered up."

Gabriella nodded quickly, "Yep," She looked over at Troy who gave her a wink.

"So there's a BBQ tonight at Cole's beach house for a last weekend bash before college starts up again," Chad mentioned, "Anyone fancy grilled food and beer?"

"I'm in," Gabriella instantly said, "Cole is a cutie so it should be fun."

Sharpay smirked up at Gabriella, "Is _he_ fun?"

Gabriella shook her head in disbelief of her friend but laughed, "Yeah," She mumbled back with a grin.

Troy overheard this little exchange between the two best friends and smirked, shaking his head at Gabriella. She wasn't afraid of anything sexual and he loved that, it wasn't often now that girls would be so open about sex and not be a horrible person.

"So we're all in?" Chad asked, breaking Troy from his thoughts. Chad's question got lots of nods and smiles.

"What time?" Zeke asked.

Chad shrugged, "He said people are going over from about four-ish."

"Well it's like half two now and in traffic it's going to take at least twenty minutes to drive there so Gabs, let's go get ready," Sharpay squealed the last part as she jumped up and attempted to drag Gabriella along with her.

"Shar, wait!" Zeke exclaimed. He took off after Sharpay as Gabriella stayed in the lounge, letting the two have a moment.

"So I guess we need to head off," Lucas suggested.

"Yeah," Allie agreed and walked past Gabriella to stand in the door way, right behind her.

"Bye Gabs," Chad said, walking over to give her a hug as did Lucas.

Troy also walked over and opened his arms after Chad and Luke had stepped to the side, "I'll see you later," He murmured into her hair.

Gabriella nodded and pulled back from the hug not too slowly but not quickly, "Get me a drink ready for when I get there?" She asked, cheekily with a half-smile.

Troy licked his lips as a smile rested on them, "Absolutely. Don't be too late," He grinned, leaning down and kissed her cheek quickly before heading out of the door with the rest of his friends.

"Bye Gabi!" Zeke shouted as he jogged out of Sharpay's bedroom and towards the door, catching up with everyone.

"Bye!" She laughed.

"Gabriella, lets get ready!" Sharpay shouted from her bedroom.

Meanwhile as the two girls started to choose their outfits and began to chat. The group of five were all huddled into Troy's truck as he drove them all back to their retrospective apartments.

"You and Gabriella seem very… hand-sy," Chad commented as he sat in the passenger seat.

Troy sucked on his tongue and shook his head, "We get along well."

"We can see that," Zeke chipped in.

Troy rolled his eyes, "It's going to be interesting tonight because I'm pretty sure that Gabriella has some sort of history with Cole."

"So she's slept with him basically?" Allie said, rolling her eyes.

"You really need to lay off of her," Troy said, deeply.

"Why Troy? Just because you want to have sex with her and dump her?" Allie said.

Troy narrowed his eyes at her in the rear-view mirror for a moment, "I didn't fucking dump you. We had sex once, it didn't mean anything, we were pissed and I have only ever liked you as a friend. How many times do I have to tell you this for you not to hold a grudge against me?" He asked, exasperatedly.

Allie sighed frustratedly, "You didn't even give us a try."

"Because I only like you as a friend," Troy said, deadpan, "Plus, you're not exactly coming off as the nicest person since we've got back."

Allie scoffed, "Because you guys have gone ga-ga over some slut."

"You need to stop, Al," Chad said, looking back at her and she simply looked out of the window and ignored the boys.

* * *

Please tell me what you think. Please review. Thank you for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

By six o'clock the gathering was in full swing and everyone was huddled around a long rectangular shaped table ready to eat, however Troy, Chad, Lucas and Zeke had yet to arrive.

"Where's Zeke?" Sharpay moaned as she cradled a drink and leant on her forearms on the table.

"Calm down, you'll get a bit of him at some point tonight," Gabriella grinned as she leant backwards and let her head rest of Cole's broad shoulder.

"A bit of who?" Cole asked, moving his arm to wrap around Gabriella's collar bones.

Gabriella tilted her head back and to the side, "Shar likes this guy called Zeke and she's hoping for a bit of action tonight," She smirked, raising her feet to rest against the arm of the chair as they continued to wait for the last few people to come before they ate.

"Oh! I remember him, he's sick at baking?" Cole questioned, his hand moving to rest on Gabriella's bare mid-thigh.

"Yes! He makes the _best_ cookies," Sharpay grinned.

Gabriella and Cole shared a half smirk, half smile.

"So, am I going to be able to spend more time with you now Jake is out of the picture?" Cole asked, squeezing her smooth leg softly.

Gabriella turned a little to face him but not enough to dislodge his hand, "Are you taking advantage of a vulnerable girl who only two days ago finished with the guy she was seeing for two months?"

"I just want to have a little fun with her to make sure said guy hasn't taken it out of her," Cole responded with a cheeky smile.

Gabriella laughed and leant up to kiss his cheek. Cole wasn't bad looking at all except he was more open than mysterious. He had dirty blonde hair which had a slight darkness to it in parts, hazel eyes, cleanly shaven, and subtle muscles and wore a pair of light blue material shorts and a white t-shirt.

"And the party has arrived!" Yelled a man coming out from the backdoor of the beach hut.

"Hey!" People shouted and laughed as the four missing guys walked out and each greeted various people they hadn't seen in just over a year.

Gabriella's attention turned away from Cole who had his nose pressed into her hair and toward the rugged man who held a pack of beer under his arm as he and Chad greeted some people who had jumped up to be reunited. Troy must have felt eyes on him as his own strayed away from the two guys and the girl to connect with Gabriella's, he let a small smirk grace his face before nodding at her.

Gabriella sent him a small smile and a little wave before he turned away and continued his conversation, "I'm going to get a drink," She commented before standing up, Cole's hands sliding off her, and manoeuvring through the people to reach the table which held a variety of drinks and the odd cooler.

"I'm sorry I didn't have that drink ready for you," A husky voice said from behind.

Gabriella instantly smiled but continued to fill up her cup, "It's not very gentlemanly of you."

Troy chuckled, "I do apologise," He replied with a posh tone then coughed lightly to clear his throat before continuing, "My truck broke down on the way so we had to wait for my dad to come."

Gabriella turned to face him with a soft smile, "Daddy to the rescue?"

"Nope, he just came to give me my tools to fix it," Troy said with a smirk.

Gabriella's eyebrows shot up, "Impressive and kinda sexy."

Troy chuckled, "How much have you had to drink?"

"A little."

Troy nodded, sipping a beer from the crate he place on the table, "You and Cole look cosy," He hinted.

Gabriella shrugged, "He's not my type."

"You seem like his type."

Gabriella smirked, "And what makes you say that?" She asked.

Troy downturned his lips and shrugged, "He was pretty comfortable with his hand on your leg and he was whispering in your ear. He also looked a little gutted when you got up and walked away."

"Some would say that you were a borderline stalker with all of that information," Gabriella commented, glancing over at Cole who was looking right back at her.

Troy looked back at Cole also, "I think he may be the borderline stalker," He muttered.

Gabriella grinned, looking back at Troy before letting out a laugh, "He's a good guy."

"I'm not saying he's not," Troy said, "But you don't like the good guys do you?" He said huskily.

Gabriella bit down on her lower lip, glancing at his lips and then back to his blue eyes, "He'd be a good guy for some other girl, just not me."

Troy nodded slowly, "But he definitely likes you or at least thinks you're hot," He said, looking down at her outfit, "I think most guys do, maybe some girls," He smirked.

Gabriella laughed a little, "I dunno, I just don't see him that way."

"Then that's fair enough," He commented, his eyes lifting up and over Gabriella's head, "Speak of the devil," He muttered.

Gabriella turned her head, "Oh hey Cole," She said surprised.

Cole smiled down at her, touching her shoulder and then the small of her back, "Hey," He kissed the side of her head before looking at Troy, "Hey man, it's been a while."

Troy nodded, shaking his hand, "Yeah it has, how's it been going?" He asked, sipping his beer.

"Good, good. How was the year away?" Cole questioned, placing his hand on Gabriella's hip.

Troy noticed how Gabriella stood a little more rigid, "Amazing, it's good to get away from this place."

"Yeah, you deserved it. You had a shit year before with your brother and reh-"

"Anyway, I'm going to see where Chad and everyone has gotten too. Later," Troy said walking away and not waiting for an answer from either person.

Cole turned to face Gabriella, "He has a pretty hefty past."

Gabriella turned her head and watched Troy jog down the stairs which she presumed to lead down to the beach, "Yeah?"

"Mhm, he's quite troubled," He said, sympathetically.

"Cole, I'll see you later," Gabriella said airily before casually jogging after Troy, down the steps, stopping at the bottom. She squinted down each side of the beach before spotting a figure sat in the sand, a couple of metres before the water.

She placed her empty cup on the wooden fence before slipping off her sandals and started to walk toward Troy who had an open bottle of beer in his hands and another two closed ones between his legs which was bent up. Gabriella sat down quietly next to him. His head was hung a little as his elbows rested on his knees.

"Hi," Gabriella whispered.

Troy nodded quietly, not moving from his position.

At least he was acknowledging her, she thought, "I'm pretty sure Cole didn't mean to get to you like he did."

Troy nodded again, "I know. Like you said he's a good guy."

Gabriella nodded, stretching her legs out in front of her. This action caught Troy's eye, his eyes simply stared at her slim, soft, golden legs.

Troy took a deep breath and looked at the ocean, "What did he say after I took off?"

Gabriella nibbled on her bottom lip while playing with the hem of her floaty dress, "That you have a heavy past and it's pretty troubled."

Troy shrugged, "I could have been different, it didn't have to turn the way it did."

Gabriella had no clue what Troy was talking about, "'It' being you?"

"Me, the situation," He trailed off.

Gabriella looked at the handsome man, "I think you're a pretty good guy. I don't want you to be different, I like this you."

Troy let his eyes connect with Gabriella's dark ones, "But before…" He mumbled, "Before you moved here- before I went away, you would have liked that me more. Everyone did."

"It doesn't matter. I didn't know you before. I only know this you and I'd be perfectly happy if you continued to be this way and I never find out how the old you was," Gabriella told him, placing her small hand on the crease of his elbow.

Troy only shifted his eyes back towards the darkness of the sky, "I wish when people see me again after a year, they wouldn't pretty much straight away mention all the shit."

"We can just stay here then tonight," Gabriella whispered, resting her forehead onto his shoulder.

"I don't want to be a cock block," Troy said, dryly, looking over her head toward the beach house.

"You're not, I'm choosing to stay with you down here. If I wanted to go get some, I'd flirt it up with Cole or whatever guy showed an interest," Gabriella said firmly, lifting her head to rest her chin on his shoulder, "Now stop judging me for the amount of sex I have. I already have Allie to do that."

Troy's lips turned up into a small smile, "Sorry. But you might want to get off me, Cole's watching."

Gabriella shrugged, "It's fine."

"He'll do something to get back at me if you don't," Troy said, looking down into her eyes with a neutral expression on his face.

Gabriella licked her teeth, "Are you not willing to take the chance?" She cocked an eyebrow up at him.

"He'll try to put you off me. It's not the first time I've hung out with a girl and someone to, sort-a scare them away," Troy mentioned, "Just from being my friend."

Gabriella pressed her lips together and leant forward a little, "He won't scare me away from you," She whispered, placing her plump lips softly against the corner of his mouth.

Troy's breath became heavier, "You've gotten rid of every guy who has done drugs Gab…" He mumbled, feeling the side of her body pressing up against his own as he looked down at her.

Gabriella shrugged, "I know their story, I don't know yours."

"I think you can guess."

"I don't want to guess, I want to know for definite. I don't like to make assumptions."

"You thought I smoked the night we met, that's making an assumption."

"I only said that to try and get to know you more, get you to open up," She elaborated.

Troy licked his drying lips before putting a little distance between their faces and took a few large gulps of his beer, "Shall we head back?"

Gabriella looked up into his eyes again and noticed that he had decided that he didn't want her any closer to him at the moment, "Ok," She stood silently, picked up her sandals and started to walk back alone towards the stairs which led up to the hut. Once she reached the top, she buckled on her sandals again after brushing over her sandy feet and went in search of her friends. Before that she headed toward the drinks table to pick up another which she quickly downed and grabbed one more for the duration of her search.

"Gabriella!" Cole shouted from behind.

"Cole, hey," Gabriella smiled, turning around from the table.

"How about I get you a drink and we can head to the beach?" He offered.

"I just got myself a drink and I'm actually going to find Shar," Gabriella hinted, "I'll see you later though," Smiling tightly at him before walking away.

"Gabriella!" Chad shouted from the Jacuzzi which was at the edge of the hut.

"Yeah?" Gabriella answered with a huff before spinning around to face him and also saw Troy sitting next to Chad emerged in the water in just a pair of swim shorts.

"You getting in?" He asked.

Gabriella glanced at who was in there before making a decision. She noted that either side of Chad and Troy were girls clad in bikinis and then the odd guy who she didn't recognise in there. She hesitated because she saw Allie who was sitting right next to Troy.

"Erm," She hummed.

"Get in," Troy demanded with a husk.

Gabriella swallowed thickly but quietly and let her slightly buzzed mind take charge. She held the hem of her dress as she heard Allie mumble, "Of course she does when Troy says."

Gabriella continued to pull her dress over her head and stepped over the edge of the Jacuzzi to slide into the space between Allie and Troy.

"Holy fuck," Troy muttered.

Gabriella looked over at him and smirked, "What?"

"You," He whispered, moving his arm to rest on the top of the Jacuzzi, behind her head.

"Slut," Allie mumbled, shaking her head.

"What's your problem now?" Gabriella snapped, her head spinning to face her.

"You," Allie laughed, "You're not even wearing a bikini! You're in your underwear!" He exclaimed.

Gabriella shrugged, "I'm probably covered more than you are."

"I don't know about that," Troy whispered into her ear.

Gabriella smirked over at Troy, "You guys wanted me in here."

"It's a nice surprise," He grinned, looking down at her body under the bubbles.

Gabriella was clad in a black bra which was covered in black lace and pushed her breasts up nicely with a pair of matching of bottoms which only covered half of her behind.

"You're insane though, Allie will be down your neck," Troy muttered, his arm falling to wrap around her shoulders.

Gabriella shrugged, "I don't care."

"Good." He grinned.

"So you work out a lot, huh?" Gabriella asked.

"A little," He shrugged.

"Oh please, you do not get your muscles by only working out a little bit," Gabriella huffed, "Do not be modest."

"Ok fine," He chuckled, "I go to the gym a couple of times a week and try to do stuff outside of the gym three or four times a week."

"It shows," Gabriella mumbled, her soft hand coming up to rest on his stomach briefly.

Troy bit down on his bottom lip, "Thanks," He said huskily.

"Have you seen Shar?" Gabriella asked, her eyes wandering around the deck.

Troy's eyes joined hers in a search, "Nope. But then again I haven't seen Zeke for a while either," He chuckled.

Gabriella nodded, "So I guess we won't be seeing them again tonight," She laughed.

Troy smiled and shrugged, "Probably not."

"Hey, I have a spare swimsuit if you want it?" Allie asked interrupting Troy and Gabriella's close conversation.

Gabriella twisted her head around and smile, "Thanks but I'm good."

"I don't think Cole will like that you're wearing underwear in his Jacuzzi," Allie said, her nostrils flaring.

Gabriella gave her a look, "Cole!" She shouted and once he turned his head to the sound of his voice he excused himself from his conversation to walk over, "You don't mind me wearing this, do you?" She said sweetly.

Troy watched as Cole's eyes trailed down Gabriella's body under the water followed by a lick of his lips and a gulp.

"No," Cole chocked out.

"See, it's all good," Gabriella smiled at Allie.

Allie scoffed, "Seriously, I can go grab you my extra swimsuit."

"Really, it's fine."

Allie's temper suddenly flared as she splashed the water a little which went in Gabriella's face, "You slut!" She screamed.

Gabriella rose her eyebrows and wiped under her eyes, "You need to let whatever grudge you have against me go."

"I have no grudge, it's just you. You swoop in and act all cool and slutty and think you're the best. You're not. People only want you for sex!" Allie shouted, gaining the attention of the whole Jacuzzi and more.

Gabriella licked her lips, "That doesn't bother me."

"It doesn't bother you that people use you for sex? That's basically being a prostitute," Allie smirked.

One of Gabriella's small hands wiped the water dripping down her face away which caused her mascara to smudge a little, "Whatever Allie," She said quietly, standing up and stepping out of the hot water and pulled her dress straight over her head and on top of her wet undergarments.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Troy hissed, watching as Gabriella walked over to the drinks table and started to pour a couple of shots.

"She needs to know what she is and what she's doing and what is makes her look like," Allie said, shrugging.

"But you don't know what she's like and what the people who have dated her are like and why they dated her. You don't have a right to say those things," Troy said, frowning.

"Come on, Troy. Stop defending her, she's not around anymore," Allie purred, moving closer to her.

Troy shook his head quietly and climbed out of the Jacuzzi to go and pry Gabriella away from pouring more shots. On his way, he grabbed his t-shirt and pulled it on. After he continued to walk over to her and Sharpay who she had found on the way while wringing out his shorts.

"Troy! I need your help." Sharpay said wide-eyed, "She won't stop pouring us shots. Literally in the space of a couple of minutes she must have had like six."

Gabriella smiled and took another shot, making it seven and then finally poured a normal alcoholic beverage, "Let's dance, Sharpie," Gabriella giggled, "Like the sluts we are," She cheered and pulled Sharpay closer to the DJ who was playing the music for the night. Gabriella started to dance as Sharpay tried to stop her and calm her erratic behaviour down.

Troy watched from the table for a couple of minutes to see if Sharpay could handle the situation and calm Gabriella down. Seeing Sharpay had given up and started to dance with Gabriella. The two quickly gained much male attention and within ten minutes the majority of people at the party was dancing. However, Troy's eyes were trained on Gabriella and her partly wet and now see-through cream dress while she sipped her drink.

The handsome man decided that it was time Gabriella took some time out of drinking and she needed time to calm down. He began walking over to her and he squeezed in between Gabriella and the guy who was dancing extremely close to her but not touching her. One of Troy's large hands reached around Gabriella's body and pried the drink from her hand.

"Hey!" Gabriella exclaimed, turning around. However, she turned far too quickly and Troy helped her stay up right by holding her around her small waist.

"Come on, come chill with me," Troy coaxed, wafting the drink around behind him, trying to find Sharpay's hand which was ready to grab the drink and take it far away from Gabriella.

"No," Gabriella pushed his arm away and started to dance next to the guy from before.

"Gab," Troy said, taking a hold of her elbow crease, "Come on."

"Leave me alone," Gabriella shrugged him off again.

Troy tilted his head back with a groan before spinning Gabriella around with a force and held her firmly with both hands on her waist, "No. Come with me."

Gabriella's slightly red eyes glanced at Troy's lips and back to his eyes before wrapping her arms around his strong neck, "Dance with me."

Troy sighed, "I'll dance with you if you promise to come with me to chill out for half an hour after?" He offered.

Gabriella shrugged, "Maybe," She grinned.

Troy shook his head with a small smile, "You are a handful Gabriella Montez."

Gabriella smiled back tiredly. Troy raised his hands and used his thumbs to wipe beneath her eyes to try and rid the smudged mascara away, "It's not working," Troy chuckled.

Gabriella tilted her head into his hands and shut her eyes, "Do you want to sleep with me?" She asked, opening her eyes again.

Troy could see in her eyes that she was a little drunk, "What?" He asked, frowning.

Gabriella licked her dry lips and moved her arms to wrap around his waist, "Do you want to have sex with me? Just once and be satisfied and leave? Is that what you'd do?" She questioned.

Troy had no clue where she was going with this topic of conversation but he figured that honesty was the best policy. He moved closer to her, his hands resting on her hips, "You're beautiful and funny and crazy and you're body is incredible so I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't thought about it and that you haven't made me hard," He mumbled into her ear and occasionally moving his lips against the side of her head.

Gabriella bit down on her bottom lip and closed her eyes as he spoke, "But is that you only reason you speak to me?"

Troy pulled back to look at her closed eyes, "No," He answered simply.

Gabriella opened her eyes and her eyes immediately met a pair that she didn't want to see anytime soon but of course in her drunken state she excused herself from Troy's presence and walked over to the person who held her attention.

"Hey," The man said.

"Hi," Gabriella answered, a small smile playing on her lips.

"I thought you might be here," He mumbled.

Gabriella nodded, "Here I am."

"I need to talk to you."

"Jake," Gabriella sighed, "There really is no point in explain yourself."

"Because you are planning to fuck that other dude?" Jake questioned harshly, "Come on Gabriella, keep your legs together for once."

Gabriella sucked on her teeth momentarily, "Why the fuck did I come over here?" She asked, "You're always going to be a dick until you stop taking whatever shit you do."

Jake shrugged, "We broke up like two days ago, how can you be ready to have another guy?"

"We didn't break up. We went on a few dates, we were never a couple, we just hooked up… a lot," Gabriella scoffed.

Jake licked his lips quickly, "See! You can't keep your legs together! You are what everybody says about you, you are a slut."

Gabriella stared at Jake for a minute before quickly bringing her hand up and slapping him before stepping close to him and getting up in his face, "I may be a slut but at least I don't do things and sell things that could potentially get in them into jail if a revengeful ex "girlfriend" lets the police know," Gabriella whispered angrily into his face, "Now fuck off Jake."

Jake looked either side of himself to see that the majority of those around were watching the two, "Fuck you Gabriella," He whispered, grasping her wrists and shook her once, "You open your mouth and I have a lot of guys who would be willing to have you for a couple of nights," He continued to whisper.

Gabriella's dark eyes further darkened as he hit a sensitive spot. She never expected him to go that far, "You really are an asshole. How fucking dare you say shit like that, you know what I've been through."

"You went through that because you're a nasty whore who loves a bit of dick and that oozes from your pores," Jake said through clenched teeth as she squeezed her wrists harder.

"Jake, back off," A guy's voice said with a strong warning tone.

"You fucking dick," She screamed in his face, shaking his hands off her, "I must have been delusional the entire time I saw you! No one in their right mind would be seen dead with you."

Jake narrowed his eyes and grasped her shoulders, squeezing her, "Watch your mouth princess," Jake whispered nastily before shaking her and pushing her away. He felt two hands grasp his shoulders to pull him away but he shrugged them off.

"Or else what?" Gabriella hissed, feeling a pain down her neck and arms, "What's another few guys going to do."

"Fuck you," Jake said darkly.

"You already have," She shouted back, smirking at him.

Jake went for her fully this time but several guys pulled him away and escorted him out of the house.

"Asshole," Gabriella said once Jake had gone, her face dropped as she let the words Jake had said to her sink in.

"Gabs, are you ok?" Sharpay rushed over to her and pulled her into a hug.

Gabriella didn't respond and walked out from her hug. She felt the pain in her wrists and neck including tears building her in her eyes making them glassy. She remembered that Troy owed her half an hour to just sit some place quiet. She didn't trust herself to be alone at the moment so she could really do with someone who didn't know all of the ins and outs of her past which Sharpay did. And Sharpay would want for her to talk but she didn't want to talk, she wanted to process Jake's words and actions quietly.

She walked directly over to Troy, who again was in the Jacuzzi but this time with just Chad, Allie and two girls. One of which had her hand on the back of Troy's neck and sitting on his lap, "Can we have that half an hour, please?" She questioned from behind him, quietly. Her voice thick with emotion.

Troy turn his head around, "Hey, erm, can we do it in five?" He asked, not registering how she looked.

Gabriella registered the girl that was on his lap who was topless, slim, leggy and clinging onto him, "Whatever." She scoffed, "Douche," She muttered, walking away casually before dashing down the steps to the beach and reached a small space between rocks where she could happily fit and relaxed back against.

Gabriella took one large breath, trying to push back the emotions she felt coming to the surface. One tear escaped and slipped down the softness of her cheek, "I hate boys," She said in a frustrated tone.

CCCCCCCCCCCC

The sun had rose but it had only just started to project a warmth over everything living. Gabriella felt this warmth cover her bare legs and tear-stained face which had make-up smudged all over. Her heavy brown eyes flickered open to see a cloud-less blue sky and then glittering, calm ocean. A small smile broke over her face at the scenery she got to quietly witness this morning. However, the smile slipped from her face as she started to remember the events of the night before.

"Morning," A quiet voice said.

Gabriella jumped a little from her horizontal position on the rock and looked down towards the noise which came from near her feet, "Hi," She gave her best friend a small smile.

"Good night sleep?" Sharpay smirked.

Gabriella slowly began to sit up and winced, "My back says no."

Sharpay helped her the rest of the way up, "I didn't think it would be very comfortable to sleep on a rock," Sharpay laughed.

"It's not something I'd advise you to do," Gabriella responded, rubbing the bottom of her back.

Sharpay laughed a little before looking out at the scenery, "Troy was nice to you last night, kinda."

Gabriella frowned, "Why? He was too busy with that blonde to even stick to his word."

Sharpay winced a little, "Well yeah after he was done with that, he came back to the party and he was chatting to Cole and apparently Cole was telling him how much he wanted you and to make the one night you two had into two. And Troy said he was about to go down to you but he knew you were drunk which wouldn't have stopped Cole so Troy stopped him."

"He got action but he stopped me from getting mine. Nice of him," Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"Or Troy got sex and saved you from regretting something?" Sharpay offered.

Gabriella shrugged, "That girl was so bold," She grumbled.

Sharpay rose her eyebrows, "And you weren't- aren't?"

"How was I that bold?" Gabriella asked, surprised.

"You went into a jacuzzi in your underwear and then your dress was see through the entire night," Sharpay said in a dead-pan tone.

Gabriella pouted for a moment, "That's still not as bad as topless and basically pushing your boobs into a guy's face and still on his lap which, by the way, had a hard on," She ranted.

"She didn't exactly put her boobs in my face," A deep voice said from the side of them.

"Like I give a fuck where she placed her boobs," Gabriella spat, laying back on the rock and closed her eyes.

Troy and Sharpay shared a surprised look, "I just came down to get you both, not because I want to discuss my sex life. Your food is going cold," Troy said before walking off again.

Gabriella opened her eyes again and looked at Sharpay who was smirking at her, "What?"

"Nothing. Come on, I came to get you because the guys were making breakfast and we all stayed here last night," Sharpay explained and by 'we' she was referring to herself, Gabriella, Troy, Chad, Zeke, Lucas, Allie and the girl Troy was with the night before.

"Ok." Gabriella stood up and stretched, "I'm not showing my face until I get cleaned up though," She giggled slightly, "I'm so glad I packed more clothes."

Sharpay laughed, tilting her hair back, "You look b-e-a-utiful," She smirked.

Gabriella laughed along, "You need your eyes testing, Sharpski."

"You need a shower," Sharpay shot back and dodged Gabriella who went to push her but fell in the sand instead causing Sharpay to let out a loud laugh and attempt to continuing running. Gabriella sat in the sand, laughing loud also as her hair got covered in sand.

Little did the two know that a male figure who was becoming particularly fond of one of them, was watching on the deck with a small smile on his face. Troy turned back and went inside to the guys as Allie was taking a quick shower.

"They're on their way," Troy announced.

"And your chick?" Zeke smirked.

Troy rolled his eyes, "Not exactly my chick but she's still asleep."

"You wore her out Bolton," Chad patted his back.

Troy shrugged quietly.

"I thought you came back down to the party after you did… your thing," Lucas questioned.

"I did," Troy confirmed, nodding his head, "But when you go back up and there's a naked, pretty girl in a bed wanting and asking for more, you don't exactly say no," He admitted.

"You have sex multiple times but stop me from having any," Gabriella commented as she went straight into the kitchen.

Troy licked his lips, "You weren't satisfied from the other night with that dude?" He said, borderline sarcastically.

Gabriella narrowed her eyes, "Low blow. And remember when you told me you didn't want to be a cock block? You kinda were," She shot back.

"At least I got blown," Troy clenched his jaw as he spoke through gritted teeth.

Gabriella stared at Troy, "Jerk," She said simply, "You and Allie would be perfect together," She hissed before walking away to wash and change.

"Troy, what the fuck was that?" Sharpay exclaimed.

"Just because I kind of stopped Cole from fucking her doesn't mean I can't have any sex," Troy defended.

"She's pissed at you for blowing her off for that girl," Sharpay explained, "You negotiated with her and you never delivered your part of the deal. She literally blanked me to speak to you."

"She could see I was kinda busy and she choose then to want to talk?" Troy asked incredulously.

"That guy she left you for when you were dancing was Jake, her kind of ex, he was horrible to her; verbally and physically. Straight after I went to her and she blanked me and walked straight over to you and you blew her off so she went to the beach," Sharpay told him.

"She didn't want to speak to anyone but me?" Troy asked, his eyebrows raised.

Sharpay shrugged, "Yeah and I think she's glad that you didn't let Cole go down to her, deep down. Like very deep down, deep, deep, deep down," She smiled.

Troy smiled back, "I feel awful."

Sharpay again shrugged, "You didn't know but just put your friends before getting laid next time."

Troy nodded, "Yeah."

Gabriella came back through into the kitchen around ten minutes after that conversation finished and another one had started and Allie had entered the room. She went straight to the coffee machine which Cole had told everyone they could use before he headed off to work a couple of hours prior.

Troy swallowed as he took in her long, black, curly hair which was slightly damp and flowed down her back and around her face. He also noticed the pair of loose denim shorts and grey t-shirt she wore and her toned, tanned legs. The guilty looking male stood from his place at the island in the middle of the large kitchen and walked over to the counter where Gabriella stood.

"Hey," He said, softly.

Gabriella didn't look up she simply nodded and continued with her tasks.

"Gabriella," He whispered, reaching up to tuck some hair behind her ear so he could see half of her own clean and make-up free face, "I'm sorry," He continued to say quietly and reached down to softly stroke over her bruised left wrist, "I'm so sorry."

Gabriella moved her arm away and licked her dry lips, "It doesn't matter," And with that, she turned her head so her hair came away from her ear and she took off towards the decking outside with her coffee in a swoop.

"Fuck," Troy muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"Hi," An unknown voice said from the door way of the kitchen which made Troy's head whip towards the figure. Everyone stayed quiet as they looked between the two.

"Hi," Troy nodded.

"Please tell me that wasn't your girlfriend who is now seriously angry," The girl said in a hopeful voice.

Troy glanced over at Gabriella through the large window to see her leaning against the wooden fencing with her legs crossed, "She isn't." He said quietly then quickly cleared his voice and turned to the blonde again, "She isn't my girlfriend. I'm single, it's fine."

"You two looked cosy."

Troy shrugged helplessly, "She's my friend who is pretty annoyed at me right now."

The girl walked over to Troy right in front of Troy, "She'll get over it."

"She's annoyed because I put you before her."

"How long have you known each other?" The girl asked, touching the sides of Troy's waist.

"A few days."

"So you really have no obligation towards her?" The girl said, she wasn't try to be nasty, she was simply trying to make Troy feel like guilty and whether that was for his benefit or hers is a completely different question.

"I do. We get along really well," Troy defended.

Gabriella at that point walked back into the room and immediately saw the blonde from last night touching Troy's body and Troy leaning against the counter where she was only minutes before.

The blonde turned towards Gabriella as she noticed that Troy's attention was elsewhere, "Oh, this is the girl that's annoyed with you?" She asked Troy who nodded, "You must be Gabriella? Allie has told me so much about you."

"I bet she told you so many great things," Gabriella said, carelessly with a half-smile.

"Urm… yeah, sure." The girl said.

"Don't worry, you don't have to pretend. Sweet Allie over there despises me for having sex, which is a part of nature, but ok," Gabriella smiled sarcastically over at Allie who narrowed her eyes at her.

Allie rolled her eyes, "I think me and this Jake kid could get along. We both have the same views of you."

Gabriella's head whipped around to face Allie and her eyes grew dark and her voice turned deep and dark while her face turned hard, "You dare to say something like that again, speak his name again in front of me and have the nerve to think you know what he was talking about last night, I swear I'll fuck you up. Now stop being a spiteful little bitch and fuck off out of my business, out of my life and deal with your own little issues," Gabriella growled, lowly, "Understand?"

Allie laughed a little, "Whatever doll."

Gabriella's eyes flickered over at Troy who simply shook his head a little as if to tell her to leave it however she wasn't going to leave as just like last night he ignored her therefore she was going to ignore her, "You are one fucked up little bitch," Gabriella spat, slamming her cup of coffee down and walked over to Allie who backed up against a wall.

"Let's go," Troy's soft voice said directly into her ear as she backed Allie up.

Gabriella stopped walking and this gave time for Troy to step between Allie and Gabriella, facing the brunette.

"Troy," Gabriella said in a frustrated manner, "Please go," She frowned.

Troy sighed, "No. Please will you let me take you somewhere?" He asked, "I'm not forcing you but I would really like too."

Gabriella looked up into his eyes, she had waited for someone to speak like that to her for so many years. Troy watched her eyes and let her debate his words while he lifted his large hand and softly stroked across her jawline.

"Ok," She choked out.

Troy let a small smile grace his face and he leant forward to press a couple of firm kisses to her forehead as he cupped the side of her head, "Thank you. Now take my keys, they're on the counter and go wait in my car, I'll grab our stuff and I'll be with you."

"I'll help," Gabriella said quietly.

"Go get in my car. I promise I won't be long," He told her, stroking over her cheek, "I promise," He repeated.

He watched as she again debated his words with a smile on his face. She quietly walked away, claimed his keys which were the only ones on the counter and walked out of the place.

Troy licked his lips, "She would have beat your ass so you owe me," He said to Allie, not turning around to face her, "Can you lay off her a bit?" He asked over his shoulder, "You're pushing it. And you've got your car here," He said to the blonde girl, "I'm sorry things can't be anything more than they are. I have other things I need to sort out first," Troy said with a nod.

The girl smiled tightly and nodded, "It's ok Troy."

Troy smiled back and turned to see the group watching him with curious eyes, "I'm just going to drive around a bit with her, see if I can get her to forgive me and chill her out."

Chad nodded, "Alright man, text me how it goes."

"I will," Troy smiled, doing their little handshake.

"Troy," Sharpay said, beckoning him over and handed him her phone.

Troy took it while a frown covered his forehead with questions. He read the text message Sharpay had open on her cell phone, " _Hi Shar, I'm sorry for ignoring you and not being myself. There's only so many times someone can get called names by various people and still be ok. Thank you for being such an amazing friend. I love you lots. Troy said he's not forcing me Shar. That legit nearly made me cry. I hope he's being honest and will never force me into anything. Time will tell. Ill speak to you later. I love you lots Sharpie xox_ "

Troy smiled as he read the text message, "She's safe with me, mom," Troy teased.

Sharpay grinned as she went to slap his arm but Troy dodged out the way, jogging to grab his bag and Gabriella which he had to run back and ask Sharpay which was hers before he walked out of the beach house with a bye.

Once outside, Troy opened the trunk of his car and placed their bags in there before walking around and stepping in his car. He turned to face Gabriella as much as he could and grasped one of her hands gently, peppering kisses all to her wrist, "I'm so, so, so incredibly sorry. Sorry that I wasn't there when Jake was literally abusing you, sorry that I ignored you for a lay and sorry for saying all the things I did this morning."

Gabriella couldn't stop a tired small smile light up her face, "She was pretty so I can't blame you for that."

"Of course you can!" Troy exclaimed, "You're pretty but I ignored you. How good looking someone is has no reason for me to ignore someone and give someone else attention. Honestly Gab, I'm so sorry."

"It's ok," Gabriella shrugged.

"It's not," Troy said, firmly, "I should have been there, me, Chad anyone, to stop Jake forcing bruises on you."

Gabriella licked her lips and touched his hand with her free one, "I don't want to talk about him anymore. Can we just go?"

"Of course," He kissed her wrist once more before starting his car up and turning on the radio to a low level where if either wanted to make conversation it could be done easily but for the moment, they were happy to drive quietly in a relaxed atmosphere where neither felt pressured to talk. Troy reached over to place his hand on her lower thigh and gave it a soft rub, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye to see her looking at the houses that passed as he drove by. His action was rewarded and acknowledge by her small hand wrapping around a couple of his fingers, affectively holding his hand. Troy's blue eyes returned to the road as a small smile grace his lips to match Gabriella's hiding one.


	3. Chapter 3

Pre-warning, this may seem similar to my other story but I promise it's not going to be but I just don't like my own writing when everything is smooth sailing and everyone is happy and gets along all the time. I hope you take this into account, this will be a different kind of story. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please let me know what you think. Thank you!

* * *

"Piece of shit," Troy growled from beneath his truck.

While he and Gabriella were out on their relaxing drive, his truck once again decided to break down as it chugged its way onto a safe spot where it sputtered and came to a complete spot. Troy reluctantly had to call his dad who he knew would tell his mom that he had a pretty girl in the car with him. They were heading towards his hometown to show her around and take the focus off her but were not planning to go to his parent's house. Luckily, he had yet to go inside so faced no impending questions.

His family lived in a neighbourhood which was less than an hour away from the city where he went to college, however Troy decided to live with his friends which was just a short walk away from where his lectures were.

"I can just call Chad and get him to pick me up?" Gabriella suggested as she sat on top of a work top passing Troy tools when he asked for them.

"No, its fine. I can take you."

Gabriella sighed, "When? Next week?" She muttered quietly.

"I heard that Montez," He teased.

"Damn, I've been caught," Gabriella grinned with a sarcastic tone.

Troy rolled himself out from under the truck and glanced up at Gabriella with a lop-sided grin, "I'm nearly done," He said, jumping up from the floor and stretched once standing.

"Then get back to it," She said simply with a cheeky smile.

Troy walked over to Gabriella and stood between her legs, laying his hands on her outer thighs, "How about you roll under there and finish it for me?" He asked.

Gabriella put her index and middle finger in the middle of Troy's chest and pushed lightly to back him away, "You've got grease and dirt all over you, stay away."

"Get under the car then for me," Troy grinned, walking back towards her.

Gabriella scoffed, "No way," Pushing him back away.

"Why?" He laughed, reaching her hand up to bat and hold her hand away from himself.

"I'd ruin your truck even more!" She exclaimed, "If that's possible," She mumbled to herself.

Troy's eye brows shot up and he sucked in his cheeks a little, "Whoa! You are hating on me and my truck today aren't you?" He smirked.

Gabriella grinned and let him walk so he was firmly between her legs. She placed her hands on his chest, "Never. Your truck gets you from A to B, what more could you want? Maybe from A to B without stopping to fix it?" She quipped.

Troy pushed her hands off his chest playfully, "You can walk home," He said, pointing at her.

"It's rude to point," She said while softly slapping his hand away.

"It's rude to mock other people's cars- atleast I have a car!" Troy quickly said.

Gabriella laughed, "Why would I need a car when I can get hot guys to take me everywhere," She joked.

"Like Cole?" He smirked, "You could have him wrapped around your little finger, baby."

"Or like you," She said, licking her bottom lip.

"I'm not wrapped around your finger, I never will be."

"Oh really?" She grinned.

"Never, never have been, never will be."

Gabriella smirked, "We'll see about that."

"I'm not one of them guys," He husked.

"What guys?"

"Those who are a complete push over with their girlfriends, any girls actually," Troy corrected, "The ones who watch their girl flirt with other guys and then buy them chocolate the next day."

Gabriella rubbed her lips together, "Well I wasn't talking about you being potentially wrapped around my finger, I was talking about you being hot so I guess it doesn't matter what kind of boyfriend you are."

Troy coughed lightly, his eyes momentarily widening, "You keep surprising me."

"How so?" She questioned.

"You're so chill then suddenly you'll be so blunt and… it's so sexy," He whispered the last part.

Gabriella raised an eyebrow, "You think it's sexy that I called you hot?" She questioned.

"Yeah, inappropriate though but thank you."

"How is it inappropriate?"

"We're at my parent's house."

"You're standing between my legs, that's inappropriate if they see that," Gabriella shot back, shrugging.

Troy looked down and saw his hands holding her at the crease of her hips, "They've walked in on worse," He husked, his thumbs moving under her tee shirt to stroke her flat lower stomach.

Gabriella quickly bit down on her lower lip before letting it go slowly. She placed the palms of her hands behind her for support as pushed her hips up and towards his before lowering her hips and raising them again, holding them a little off the desk with ease, all the while keeping eye contact with Troy. She felt his hands grasp onto her a little tighter.

"What if they walked in on something like that? Is that inappropriate too?" Gabriella asked quietly.

Troy yanked her hips forwards to held her tighter against his, "So fucking inappropriate," He grumbled, leaning forwards and firmly pressed his lips to hers, wrapping his arms around her lower back as she let herself sit up right away and wrap her arms around his neck.

"Troy," Gabriella breathed as she felt Troy's hands slide further up her tee shirt to hold her mid-back.

"Hm?" He hummed as he reconnected their lips.

Gabriella continued to kiss him back, grasping the back of his head gently, "We should stop," She mumbled, pulling away.

"Nah," Troy grinned, leaning forward again to interlink their lips for a few moments, however this time it was a lot gentler and softer rather than rushed and rough but both equally as passionate.

Gabriella giggled into the kiss making it difficult to lock lips, they both smiled at each other and shared one more kiss before Troy licked his lips and moved his hands from under her tee shirt to cup her face and press a couple more soft kisses to her lips.

"That was so appropriate," Gabriella whispered and then watched as a grin spread across Troy face and then she giggled.

Troy nodded and the smile slipping from his face before he softly coughed and moved away from her, "I should finishing fixing my truck."

Gabriella nodded, biting down on her lower lip, "I'm going to go find some coffee."

"Ok," Troy smiled, sliding back beneath his truck.

Only half an hour later Troy was sat onto of the work top where Gabriella was sitting when the two made out, swirling a tool around his fingers. He had finished fixing up his truck, had changed into something less greasy and sweaty and was now waiting for Gabriella to return.

"Hey," Gabriella said, walking towards him and holding out the warm cup.

"Thanks," Troy said, putting down the tool he was playing with.

"All finished?" She questioned.

"Mhm," He nodded while his mouth was full of liquid. He swallowed, "My parents asked me to stay for dinner, you too but my mom is close friends with my ex-girlfriend's mom and they both still think we're perfect for each other so they're coming too," He told her hesitantly.

"I'll just get Shar to come get me. I don't want to be in the way of a reunion," Gabriella said with a shrug.

"Stay," Troy said firmly.

"No. I'm not sitting at a table with your ex while everyone tries to get you two back together when literally hours before we made out," Gabriella said, leaning her weight onto one leg.

"Please," Troy begged.

Gabriella shrugged, "No. Would you ever get back with her?" She questioned.

Troy shrugged, "I dunno."

Gabriella sipped her coffee, "Then we should forget whatever happened down here today and I should call Sharpay to pick me up and you should go have dinner with your ex."

"It's just," Troy groaned, "We only broke up because of me, I don't know if to give it another shot."

Gabriella licked her lips, "That's not my call."

"Troy!" A girl's high pitched voice squeaked.

Troy's head turned to the voice neutrally, a girl dressed in a low cut, light pink dress which hugged her upper half and then flowed out naturally, "Hi," He nodded, turning back to Gabriella.

"So that's her?" Troy nodded, "No wonder you want to give it another shot. She's pretty."

Troy tilted his head as if to say 'you really want to go there?', "Gab, this Danielle," He introduced as Daniella came down to stand next to Troy, "This is Gabriella," He told Danielle.

"Hi," Danielle smiled widely.

Gabriella sent a small smile back as she watched Danielle's hand hold the crease of Troy's arm, "Hey."

"Are you staying for dinner, I heard you were invited?" The petite girl asked, her hair was a similar shade to Gabriella's but shorter and a little more limp however, she was a couple of inches taller than Gabriella in height.

"Erm, no, I think I'm going to call my friend to come pick me up," Gabriella answered, looking over at Troy for a moment who turned his head away from them both and subtly shook his head.

"Oh, can you not drive?" Danielle asked.

Gabriella laughed a little, "I can, I just can't afford a car."

"Oh. Did you spend all of your trust fund on college? Troy said you go to the same college as him."

Gabriella's eyes narrowed at Troy as it seemed as though he was still in contact with his ex-girlfriend even after the blonde he slept with, the making out of him and Gabriella and the constant flirting between the two, "Yeah I do but I didn't have a trust fund, I had some money given to me and I saved up," She said briefly.

"I hear UCLA is still quite pricey," Danielle said to try and make conversation with Troy's new friend.

"Not as expensive as Stanford," Gabriella muttered.

"I go there!" Danielle exclaimed, "It's so good."

Gabriella gave her a half-smile, "That's where I wanted to go my whole life but it just wasn't realistic, it was cheaper for me to go to UCLA even with in-state tuition fees than Stanford."

Danielle nodded, "That's understandable, I'm from Florida but luckily my parents had been saving since I was born and I got a job too. I'm pretty lucky."

Gabriella let out a breath of air, "Yeah you are. How did you and Troy meet?"

"My parents moved here when I went to college, they hadn't liked where we lived for a while so they came here and we met when we both came home for winter break, our freshman year," Danielle explained.

"You're not too far away from each other either during the school year," Gabriella pointed out.

Danielle nodded, "Right. I'm going to go back up to see if I can help," She said cheerily and then bounced up the steps.

"I can't believe you," Gabriella said as the two stood facing each other.

"I didn't do anything wrong," He denied.

"You are still fucking talking with your ex! You have fucked someone else, you've been constantly been flirting with me and made out with me and now you're going to have dinner with a girl who hadn't taken her hands off you since she walked in the room," Gabriella ranted.

"I'm single," He said simply.

"I just don't think its right that you have been going around with these other girls while talking to your ex," Gabriella muttered while pulling out her cell phone and typing away, "I'm going to find my way to Santa Barbara and Jake is picking me up from there."

"Hell no," Troy exclaimed, "You're abusive ex-boyfriend is _not_ taking you home, no way."

Gabriella scoffed, "He isn't abusive. He's never touched me like he did at the party ever before."

"I don't give a fuck. I let him put his hands on you once, he's not doing it again," Troy said firmly.

Gabriella shrugged, rolling her eyes before walking out of the open garage with her black slouchy bag on her shoulder. She continued to walk down the street with her arms crossed.

Troy licked his lips as he walked out of the garage also, watching her walk down the street, "Gabriella!" He shouted.

"Gabriella!" A more feminine voice shouted but this time from the front door.

Gabriella closed her eyes and turned around, "Yeah?" She shouted back, walking a little closer.

The woman with light brown hair and a touch of redness to it walked down the porch steps and towards the younger woman. The two met half way before either spoke again, "Myself and Jack heard pretty much everything you both shouted about. Now I know I'm only Troy's mom to you but I would really prefer it if you would come and have dinner with us and let Troy take you both back later. No man- boy puts his hands on a woman, ever," She stressed.

Gabriella smiled at Lucille Bolton, "Ok," She agreed.

"Great," Lucille grinned, before put her arm around her shoulder blades and leading her back into the house, this time through the front door.

Somehow one thing led to another, dinner was perfectly fine, Gabriella only speaking when somebody wasn't trying to fix up Troy and Danielle. Quite a lot of wine was consumed by them and the four parents: Jack and Lucille Bolton and Danielle's mother and father decided to hit a couple of bar's for a nice drink in a better environment.

Gabriella made herself comfortable on the couch as it was now obvious that herself and Troy were not heading back to college until the morning. Troy and Danielle had headed to his old room a few minutes after the parents had gone, saying they needed to talk. Gabriella absently flicked through the channels on the TV but found nothing interesting. It was only 9 o'clock so Gabriella decided to give Sharpay a call.

"Hello G," Sharpay answered, happily.

"Hey," Gabriella smiled.

"When are you coming home?" The blonde asked.

Gabriella sighed, "Not until the morning."

"What? Why?" She exclaimed.

"Troy's truck broke down, we've ended up at his parent's house, we made out, we argued, we had dinner with his ex-girlfriend and her family and now said ex-girlfriend and fuck boy are in his room," Gabriella relayed.

"Whoa," Sharpay breathed.

"Yeah," Gabriella shrugged, leaning one elbow onto the couch while holding a pillow in her lap.

"You kissed him?" Sharpay asked, subtly hinting for more information.

Gabriella licked her bottom lip, "I don't really know what happened but we made out and he's been talking to his ex since before we met, before he slept with that other girl and before we kissed."

"Troy Bolton," She said, shaking her head, "That's not very smart."

"He doesn't think there's anything wrong with that," Gabriella informed.

"It's not the worst…"

"I know that but it's exactly right."

"Exactly."

"Erm Gabriella?" Danielle's voice said from the door way.

Gabriella's head spun around and her eyes instantly took in her attire which was simply the tee shirt Troy had been wearing all day. She cleared her throat before speaking, "Yeah?"

"You don't happen to have… anything do you?" Danielle cringed.

Gabriella instantly knew that she was talking about protection, "No, sorry."

"Ok, sorry to disturb you," She quickly said before rushing away.

Gabriella brought the phone back up to her ear and before she could speak, Sharpay spoke, "Did she just ask for a condom?"

"Yeah," Gabriella whispered, "I know it's crazy but I was actually starting to believe that I could like this guy. I don't like but I just thought that maybe he could have been good for me."

"I thought the same Gab," Sharpay agreed.

"Maybe I wasn't fair on Jake, maybe I should it give another go?" Gabriella questioned.

"No! You know that's not right!" Sharpay exclaimed.

Gabrielle sighed, "I know."

"Do you want me to come get you?" Sharpay asked.

"No Shar, it's a 3 hour drive one way."

"Ok, I've just got my shoes on now, I'll be on my way in five, love ya," Sharpay said before hanging up.

"Shar! Sharpay Evans!" Gabriella screeched into the phone before realising she hung up and tried a few more times to call her back but Sharpay ignored it.

Gabriella groaned as the two, mostly like naked, bodies upstairs started to make noises of satisfaction. She pressed the volume up button on the remote control several times with annoyance.

Just over 3 hours later, Gabriella received a text message which read 'I'm here xox'. Gabriella was secretly very glad that her best friend was kind enough to come and pick her up at midnight while the guy who she was intrigued by was having sex with his ex-girlfriend.

Gabriella stood up from the couch, turned off the TV, replied to Sharpay to inform her she was going to the bathroom first and then she'd be out. She was thankful that when she turned off the TV, the house was silent. She quickly went to the bathroom, picked up her bag, slung it on her shoulder and headed out the door. She breathed a sigh of relief as the fresh air hit her but as she looked up, her shoulders sagged.

"Why are you leaving half way through the night?" Troy demanded, walking towards her.

Gabriella rolled her eyes and walked to the passenger door, "Because I'm not just going to sit around and wait for you to take me home while you're having sex with Danielle."

Troy brought out his arm quickly to stop her from walking past him, "I'm sorry, ok. We have a past, we had too much wine, neither of us had any closure."

"So you go and fuck her?" Gabriella asked, scoffing.

"I don't know why I have to explain myself to you," Troy said, moving his hands away from her arms.

"Why did you come out here?" Gabriella asked more calmly.

Troy blinked and licked his lips, looking down at his sweatshirt and jogger covered body, "We had sex, she's asleep, I couldn't sleep, Shar text me, I came out and I see you walking to her car."

"I'm not waiting around you," Gabriella repeated.

"I am sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you, it was a mistake," Troy said.

"Thanks," Gabriella said, walking away from him, "I've been called a lot of things but not a mistake."

"I didn't say it like that," Troy huffed, "You are not a mistake, I'm so glad you came into my life."

"It doesn't matter. Go back to your perfect girlfriend and her perfect, fancy, rich lifestyle and enjoy," Gabriella said, almost making it to Sharpays car.

"I really don't care about that!" Troy exclaimed, "I care about people who are genuine and kind and honest and loyal and... you," He trailed off.

"I'm just going to tell you a couple of things that will make you realise that you shouldn't walk away from your ex. I had sex with countless men for money to get into college. Of course, there had to be one who didn't like it when I said I'm not doing it anymore. The amount of guys I said I had been with, those were the ones who I have been with voluntarily. The only family I have is my brother. Now please don't act like you'd rather me than Danielle who didn't have to sell herself to get places because her fucked up parents gave all their money to many but one particularly sexually abusive drug dealer," Gabriella swallowed thickly, before opening the back door and throwing her bag in there.

"Fuck," Troy whispered, "Gab," He mumbled, walking forward as she paused opening the door and let her forehead rest on the cool metal.

"Get off me," She said throatily.

"I'm sorry," He said quietly with a concerned frown on his face.

After Gabriella took a quick, large breath she spun around, "I don't need your sympathy, so now I've confirmed your thinking. You can go back to your perfect little girlfriend and her sweet life."

"You can't just go after you told me that," Troy said, in shock, touching her upper arms.

"I'm helping you make a decision," Gabriella whispered.

"But the funny thing is that you're not pushing me in the way you think you are," Troy told her.

"You can't fix people or change them. I've learnt that after a few ex-boyfriends. You can't change me. I'm not afraid of sex, I like to be in control because there have been so many times that I haven't been. My issues are not with have sex with countless amounts of men for money for college."

Troy's large hands slid down her arms to hold her hands, "I don't want to change you. I don't care what you're issues are. As a friend who is seriously attracted to you, now more than ever, please don't leave."

"Come with me."

Troy let out a puff of air, "But Danielle is upstairs. I can't just leave. My parents…" He said in little parts of sentences.

"If you've meant everything you've said then you'll come back with me," Gabriella said, looking into his eyes.

"I've meant it but I can't just leave Gabs," Troy said, feeling her pull away from him again.

"You did it the other day and you're doing it again. Picking a lay over your friend."

Troy shook his head, "I'm not. I'm trying to be a good guy. I was horrible to her."

"And again, I don't matter," Gabriella shrugged, looking down and shaking off Troy's hands, "For my sanity, don't ever help out in an Allie situation or any situation again," She told him before yanking the door open and getting into the car. She looked at Sharpay and told her to start driving, not once looking at Troy.

"Oh babe," Sharpay sighed, "Are you ok?"

"Why do I get fucked over? Am I an easy target or something?" Gabriella asked.

"He thinks with his dick an awful lot," Sharpay told her.

"I swear that we've been flirting since the day we met but he sees this girl after years and not much flirting happened in front of me and now they're having sex. We kissed with no tongue after days of flirting. _And_ that blonde girl last night! Allie should tell him he's the slag! I'm not! The blonde chick had her boobs in his face and he went all ga-ga," Gabriella groaned, "That man!" He shouted.

Sharpay couldn't help but laugh a little, "I have no idea what to tell you, I don't understand that at all."

"And great, I just ranted my life story at him. Great," She said sarcastically.

Sharpay looked over at her brieftly. "That is one thing you should not be ashamed of. You have overcome so much and you've come out on the brighter side and done well for yourself. Don't let anybody tell you any different. I'm the proudest best friend ever."

Gabriella smiled at Sharpay, "Thanks Shar."

"Now, we are going back to our apartment, ordering a pizza and gossiping about the date a have with Zeke next week," She squealed towards the end of the sentence.

"No way! Ah!" Gabriella exclaimed while grinning, "Shar! I'm so happy for you!"

Sharpay continued to smile widely, "Thanks, I'm so excited but a little nervous too."

It had been a little over two days since Gabriella had begun to ignore Troy's calls and texts which had started happening around the night Troy had returned back to college. He had laid in his double bed the night he returned to Los Angeles, he had gotten in at around 8pm and gotten straight into bed, figuring that he would chat to Chad another time. As he laid there, he started to think about how Danielle had been completely ok with him saying that he just didn't like her in the way he used to after spending the day together, he thought about what Gabriella had told him and the idea of her struggles would not leave his mind.

It was Friday night, the last week day before college started up again and it was Chad's 22nd birthday so of course he wanted to go out and hit the town, smartly dressed for the fancier clubs and various VIP areas he had hired out with the help of his friends.

The whole group was currently sat at a fancy VIP booth which included two complimentary bottles of champagne. Each of them had a glass and were all chatting to start the night off, everyone was relaxed and chilled and having a good time; even Allie had calmed herself down towards Gabriella, even though they hadn't talked all night so far.

Gabriella was smiling at her best friend as she laughed subtly at something Zeke was whispering into her ear while she had her hand on his thigh keeping her upright and Zeke had his arm wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her into him.

"You're not creeping on them are you Gabs?" A deeper voice said from beside her.

Gabriella faced Chad and grinned, "Hey birthday boy and no I'm not. They're just too cute not to look at."

"Are you jealous?" Chad teased.

Gabriella half smiled and half smirked while shaking her head, "No! Are you?"

"I'm not into the mushy, whispering to each other shit," Chad shrugged, pulling his face.

"It can be cute," Gabriella told him, ruffling his fluffy hair.

"Hey," He barked playfully, "But anyway, I hear you are having some trouble with my boy."

Gabriella tilted her head and raised her eyebrows, "Did he send you over here?"

Chad gave her a look, "He's too busy fighting off this drunk 40 year old mom who although hot… 40," He joked.

Gabriella laughed, tilting her head back before scanning the booth and the outer area trying to find this situation. Her dark eyes stopped search as she saw Troy leaning at the small area of the bar, which was specifically for the VIP guests, with a tall, slim woman who had gone a little over board with the botox. Gabriella laughed as Troy continued to shake his head and softly pushing her away with his right hand as she stood pressed up against his left.

"As if Troy could get her," Gabriella crinkled her nose.

"You have not been on enough nights out with us if you think Troy can't get some types of women," Chad informed her, "I'm secretly jealous."

Gabriella laughed, "You two are completely different, looks wise, so you probably get the girls that aren't into Troy."

"Ah Gab, you're forgetting I had a girlfriend for quite a while before I went away, so no experimenting for me," Chad reminded her with a tap of the shoulder.

Gabriella gave him a strange look before giggling a little, "Ok."

"But seriously, you two ok or not?" Chad asked.

Gabriella shrugged, "I don't know," She mumbled, looking down at her finger nails, "We haven't spoken since I shouted my life story at him. We had been flirting hadn't we? I haven't just made this up in my head?"

Chad nodded, "Yeah, I haven't seen you two together much but when I have you seem into each other."

Gabriella slowly nodded, "I don't get his deal. Fair enough if you flirt with others and you're talking to someone else but that's still not ok but to go as far as making out with someone and still talking to your ex, that's not cool."

"Troy said you two had kissed, he also told me his side and I do think you should just talk to him," Chad advised, "Yeah, he makes mistakes but he's a good guy."

"I'm just not into guys who still talk and sleep with their exes," Gabriella remarked.

"Yeah, he said that he slept with her but I don't know, just talk and if after that you don't want to have anything to do with him then it's cool, you can still come on VIP trips with me," Chad grinned, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and shaking her gently while Gabriella laughed.

"I'm guessing you're having a good birthday then?" Gabriella laughed.

Chad nodded his head enthusiastically, "Yep," He smiled widely.

"Here you go old man," Troy said from behind the booth, leaning on Chad's black shirt clad shoulder as he put a shot and a cocktail in front of him.

"Old man," Chad scoffed, "We're the same age now," He leaned back into the booth and patted Troy's arm as a thank you.

"You're so clever, how did you get into college?" Troy mocked.

Chad glared playfully at Troy, "It's my birthday, be nice."

Gabriella at this point had turned her head to glance around the VIP area, noting its chic appearance while sipping her drink and letting the two male best friends chat. Her eyes landed on a mixed raced man who had short, shaved hair, he was already looking at her when her eyes fell upon him. He gave her a simple nod with an half -smile and she returned by giving him a small wave.

"When you're done Gab, how about you and Troy sort out your differences for your ole pal's birthday," Chad said cheekily.

Gabriella's head snapped back to the two men and her eyes flickered between the two of them, "Fine," She shrugged and both she and Chad moved a little so Troy could manoeuvre himself to sit between them.

"You've been ignoring me," Troy stated.

"Obviously Troy," Gabriella said, sipping her drink through a straw.

"Why? I mean, I get why but can I not tell you my side of everything?" Troy asked.

"Sure," She said, shrugging.

"If after that you understand, I have some questions for you but this isn't the right environment," Troy said, "Do you agree?"

"Yeah. We should meet up and talk through stuff," Gabriella agreed.

"Yeah, I'd like that," He smiled.

Gabriella bit down on her lip to stop a small smile and compose herself, "So, when?"

"Are you free tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yeah, preferably the afternoon though," She said.

Troy nodded, "About four at a coffee shop somewhere?" He offered.

Gabriella agreed with a nod, "Sounds like plan."

"Sweet," Troy grinned before putting down his drink and reaching into his pocket to retrieve his cell phone. He typed in his password and clicked on messages before he clicked on the one which had the word 'Danielle' in bold and handed her his phone, "It's done," He said.

Gabriella started to read the last few paragraphs the two exchanged before she nodded and handed the phone back to him, "You really had no obligation to show that to me, I really did not need to see that."

"I know but I just wanted you to see it in concrete," Troy shrugged.

Gabriella smiled and nodded, "I understand."

Troy looked between her eyes and her lips, remaining silent for a while before opening his mouth, "Are you ok?"

Gabriella's eyes shot to his and she frowned, "What?"

"After you told me all of what you did the other day, I've been worried about you. You're ok? You're healthy mentally and physically now?"

Gabriella placed her hand on his and rubbed over his knuckles softly, "I'm fine."

"Fine is not ok," Troy stated.

Gabriella gave him a half sad smile, "Being fine is my ok. It's ok, I'm fine."

Troy nodded, turning his hand to squeeze hers once before getting back to the party and then the music seemed to become louder and the mood stepped up and everybody became more relaxed and happy.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello, sorry for the wait and I do realise that this one isn't as long as the others but this chapter is more of a information packed one, one that will move the story on and inform you of their lives. I don't want it to be as drama filled as some of my other stories but I do want to keep their lives before each other a little tough, a little complicated and dark and troubled. I'm sorry if it seems unrealistic but it's just the way I like to right my stories. Sorry for the wait. Thank you for reading and please review.

Also, to those who asked when the next chapter would be up and if I could reply to them, I did try but it couldn't figure out how, I'm sorry!

* * *

"Dude, will you just get your stuff and leave," Chad groaned.

Troy gritted his teeth and rubbed the stubble on his face, "I'm nervous as fuck," He breathed, slipping on his grey jacket which he kept unzipped.

"Why? It's only Gab," Chad frowned.

Troy licked his white teeth, checking on the mirror in the hall to check his teeth for any imperfections, "Because I want her to forgive me, I already have a bunch of traits she hates in a guy," He admitted.

Chad scoffed, "Like what Mr. Perfect?"

Troy raised his brows, looking at Chad like he was forgetting all about his past, "I went to rehab dude, she has nothing to do with drugs. She get rid of the guy she was dating last because she caught him doing it."

"You don't do it anymore," Chad shrugged.

"I know but…"

"No man, if she doesn't like you because of your past then you can do a lot better," Chad told him determinedly.

Troy gave him a small smile, "Thanks man," He smiled, tugging on a beanie and checking he had all his necessities, "I'm going, wish me luck!" He called.

"Good luck," Chad laughed as his best friend jogged out of the apartment.

CCC

Gabriella rushed out of Sharpay's car and dashed into the modern coffee shop which had a variety of TV shows playing and all of the seats were sofas pretty much. She fingered her black curly hair back as she glanced around before seeing Troy sitting on a sofa which was facing a TV and next to the large windows.

She gave him a small wave of acknowledgment before ordering herself a coffee and the man behind the counter grazed his eyes down her, telling her he would bring it over. She thanked him and started to walk to Troy about to sit on the other sofa opposite him but he patted the space next to him.

"We're here to sort stuff out and you're getting hit on already," Troy commented with a smirk.

Gabriella let out a laugh, "If you had your arms out and you're face on show then you would have had girls sitting all around," She teased.

Troy chuckled, pulling off his beanie, "I'm glad it's just you," He admitted softly as she sat next to him, pulling her cardigan over her arms as the cool air from the air conditioning blew against her skin.

"Speaking of people hitting on others," Gabriella began.

Troy tilted his head, licking his lips, "Yeah," He breathed, "I'm sorry about everything. I was shit to you… again."

"It was just a shit situation. She goes to Stanford, she's tall and pretty and you two have history. Everything I'm not and everything we're not," Gabriella said, frowning a little.

Troy shook his head, "I don't care what college you go or even if you didn't go. I personally love how tiny you are and history is not necessarily a good thing."

Gabriella looked up as a tray with a cup of coffee and a complimentary slice of cake was placed in front of her, "Oh, thank you," She said politely.

"No problem," He grinned, "So erm, I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime?" He questioned.

Gabriella opened her mouth and blushed, staling her answer, "Thanks for the offer but erm…" She eyes went to Troy who was eyeing the male who was asking her out.

"We're sorting things out…" Troy said, suggesting that Gabriella wasn't in the position to date.

"Right," The man nodded before walking away.

Gabriella raised her brows and looked over at Troy to which Troy shrugged.

"Danielle and I are done," Troy told her, "Permanently. I'm not attracted to her in the way I once was."

Gabriella sipped her coffee which she had asked for in a take-out cup, "You were attracted to her enough to sleep with her."

Troy smirked, "Gabriella," He husked, "She started to do stuff…" He hinted at awkwardly, "It's different with you."

"Me?" She asked surprised, "But we have never…"

"But, like you can just say something in a particular way and it turns me on," He admitted.

Gabriella nodded and smiled a little, "That's good to know."

He chuckled, "Seriously though, we're done."

"I didn't even know you were still talking to her," Gabriella exclaimed.

Troy nodded slowly, "When I got back, I sent her a text saying I was back and healthy. We met up the next day but as friends, nothing happened and we just carried on chatting," He shrugged, "You came along and I was instantly attracted to you, when you came striding over, pissed at Jake, you were so confident, it was so sexy. When you walked away, Shar told us off for staring," He chuckled, "I knew from that moment that I didn't find anyone as sexy as I found you."

"So what was the night at your parents?" She questioned.

"Lack of judgement, closure, wanting to be 100% there was nothing left between us that I could ever question, wine," Troy listed off, picking up his coffee.

Gabriella watched him take a sip, "You're not still in contact?"

Troy sniffed, "No, we haven't spoken since I came back. It's done. She agreed as well. We weren't meant to be and I'm 100% cool with it."

Gabriella nodded, warming her hands on the drink, "Did you hook up with anyone last night?"

"No one," He swore.

Gabriella gave him a look and he repeated himself.

"I promise," He assured.

The petite woman shifted in her seat to face him more, tucking her legs beneath her, "Ok, I just thought it was wrong how you slept with other people and flirted with me but was still talking to her."

"I know, it sounds bad, I wasn't talking to her in a more than friend way so I guess that's how I justified it," Troy spoke, "I'm sorry," He apologised.

"It's ok," Gabriella nodded.

Troy sent her a smile and reached out to push her wild black hair back of her shoulder, letting his fingers stroke her shoulder momentarily, "I've been thinking about what you told me."

Gabriella dropped her head, "Hmm," She hummed.

"You're unbelievable Gabriella Montez," He husked, stroking his large palm down the back of her head.

Gabriella looked up with big, vulnerable, chocolate brown eyes, "Troy," She sighed, shaking her head.

"No Gab, you're seriously amazing. What you've done to get where you are and who've become. You should be proud of yourself. You've been dealt a shit hand and you've dealt with it. I wish you didn't have to do some things you did, it literally makes me feel sick and what that guy must have done," He shook his head, "What you've done to be here, when some take it for granted," He breathed.

Gabriella swallowed, moving away and drinking her coffee, "I am everything Allie and Jake and whoever else says about me but I only did it to get into college and hopefully make something of my life."

"You're not a slut," Troy said firmly, "You will make something of your life because you're determined, I admire that. Since you told me, I've felt a whole new respect for you and a little protective."

"No sympathy?"

"No, feel a little sick at what you had to do though."

Gabriella sighed, gulping her coffee, "I don't want to be known like that so please can we keep this quiet? You probably want to tell Chad or talk it through with him but just him."

Troy gave her a smile, "Of course," His smile faded, "But Gab, did that drug dealer…rape you?" He whispered, making sure he kept eye contact with her.

Gabriella pressed her lips together, her nostrils flaring slightly as she felt the familiar burn behind her eyes as she tried not to cry, "Yeah, he did. I was just turned seventeen. My way of handling it was a little fucked up. I wanted sex. A lot. But I wanted to be in control," She mumbled.

"And the other guy? The one who didn't like it when you stopped needing college money?" Troy questioned, feeling the bile rising at the back of his throat.

Gabriella shook her head, "No, he was just a little rough the last time."

Troy shook his head, frowning, "Did you get help?" Referring back to the rape.

"No," Gabriella shrugged.

"You're perfect," Troy said in a silky voice, "So perfect," He muttered.

Gabriella let a small smile grace her face.

"Do you forgive me?" He questioned, stroking her hair back with his fingertips.

Gabriella closed her eyes as she lay the side of her head on top of the couch, "Yes," She spoke softly.

Troy smiled at her relaxed face despite the given topic of conversation. He enjoyed watching her relax under his fingers and the soft smile on her face.

"Do you forgive me?" She questioned quietly, opening her eyes.

"You haven't done anything wrong but I forgive you," He chuckled.

Troy grinned as he held the back of her bare knees and pulled her closer to him, earning a squeal from her as she tipped backwards.

"Get back here," He teased, taking her small hands and pulling her upright gently.

Gabriella giggled, letting him tuck her under his arm, "Hmm," She hummed as she pressed the side of her back against his left abdominal muscles and relaxed, his muscular arm coming to wrap around her collarbone. She watched the TV show that was playing, occasionally giggling.

Troy and Gabriella stayed comfortably pressed together on the soft couch until it reached 7pm and they thought that three hours chilling, chatting, watching TV shows and drinking coffee was enough. They stood and walked towards Troy's truck with Troy's arms hanging casually around Gabriella's shoulder.

"Are you coming to the pool tomorrow?" Troy questioned as he unlocked the door for her, helping her in.

"The pool?"

"Yeah, I think we're all going, this place is holding a pool party and they'll be music and stuff and just a chilled day," Troy shrugged.

"Sure," Gabriella nodded with a smile.

"Make sure you wear a swimsuit this time," Troy said cheekily earning a slap on the shoulder.

Gabriella narrowed her eyes playfully at him, "I thought you liked my underwear?"

Troy bit down on his lower lip, bringing it into his mouth, "I did, wear that again if you like. I just can't wait to see you in a bikini or similar again," He raised his brows a couple of times making Gabriella grin.

"I'll see what I can do," She teased.

Troy chuckled, tapping her legs lightly, "Legs in," He instructed before shutting the door.

The journey back to Gabriella's apartment was filled with the occasional brief conversation but for the most part they just enjoyed the quiet back roads Troy had decided to use and the soft music playing from the radio. It ended far too quickly and Troy pulled up slowly outside of her apartment block. He cut the engine and turned his head to meet a pair of dark eyes that were already watching him.

"I'll see you tomorrow then?" Troy questioned.

Gabriella bit the inside of her lower lip, "You wanna come in? More coffee? More TV shows?" She questioned with a grin.

Troy looked away and back at the beautiful twenty-one year old in front of him, "Ok," He agreed.

They headed up to her apartment that she shared with Sharpay and as she was unlocking the door, Troy wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, pressing a sweet kiss to her shoulder before letting her proceed with her task of unlocking the door.

"Shar? I'm back!" Gabriella called, slipping off her sandals.

"Hey, how was the long chat with the hottie?" Sharpay called back from the lounge.

Gabriella turned to face Troy with a smirk on her face as Troy slipped off his converse and he silently chuckled. They both walked into the room and Sharpay rose her brow up, questioning his presence.

"I'm guessing well?" Sharpay smirked, looking at the blushing girl standing by Troy's side.

"We've sorted pretty much everything, haven't we?" Troy said, looking over at Gabriella for confirmation.

Gabriella nodded, "Coffee?" She asked.

"I'll have another coffee please," Troy answered.

"Coffee please," Sharpay answered.

Gabriella walked into the kitchen and began to make the drinks as Troy sat down on the couch Sharpay wasn't in and turned his body to be able to talk to her.

"Did you treat my bestie good on your date?" Sharpay questioned, looking up from filing her nails, prepping them for nail polish.

Troy smirked, "It was hardly a date, we just chilled and talked things through," He answered.

"Did you kiss her?" Sharpay grinned.

Troy let out a small laugh, "No, we cuddled though," He shrugged.

Sharpay laughed, "You old couple," She teased.

"Nothing up with a good cuddle," Troy joked, "I had a good time. After we talked about all the serious stuff we just chilled."

"Are you gonna ask her out on a date?" Sharpay questioned.

Troy nodded, "I want too. I think she's amazing and so fucking sexy."

"Alright, more coffee," Gabriella sung as she walked in holding two cups of coffee and a water for herself.

"Thanks," They both said.

Gabriella sat next to Troy and he curled an arm around her as she curled into his side. She lay her head on his chest and looked over at the TV as Troy and Sharpay shared a look.

"I'm tired," Gabriella yawned.

"Have a nap," Troy suggested, placing his coffee down and gently moved her legs so they lay on top of his and she was curled up more.

"Hmm," She hummed, her eyes already closed, her arm came to lay over his muscled stomach.

Troy rest his head back and stroked her smooth forearm with his palm. He felt her body go heavy and relaxed a few minutes later and he was sure she had fallen asleep.

"She told me about that dealer who took advantage," He muttered, not wanting to call it what it was.

Sharpay licked her lower lip, "I think that justifies why she has nothing to do with drugs, people who take them or deal them," She responded.

Troy let his index finger trail up her arm, "You think she'll want anything to do with me when she finds out about me?" He asked, looking down at the girl who was comfortably asleep in his arms.

Sharpay filed her nails some more, "I don't know Troy," She said honestly and quietly.

Troy nodded slowly, "It'll suck if she doesn't. I'll understand but it'll suck to get denied because of my past," He admitted with a small shrug.

Sharpay nodded, "And because you've been doing so good."

Troy smiled at her, "Thanks, it was tough in Amsterdam but I think that was the ultimate test for me."

Sharpay smiled, "You did good, I'm proud of you. I love Gabs so just treat her well and behave yourself and I believe that she'll be good for you,"

"I think so too, that's if she doesn't get rid of me."

Hours later, Sharpay and Troy were talking while watching a film as Gabriella continued to sleep while sprawled across Troy's body. He switched from softly rubbing her forearm to stroking her back and kissing her head every once in a while.

"It's getting late, I should take off," Troy said as the clock ticked over to ten o'clock.

Gabriella stretched within Troy's grasp as he was about to attempt to move her without waking her up.

"Nice sleep?" Troy asked with humour in his voice.

Gabriella looked up sleepily at Troy, "Mhm, what time is it?"

"Ten," He answered.

"Hmm," She hummed, cuddling into Troy again.

Troy chuckled, "I should get home," He said, lifting her to sit in his lap.

Gabriella lay against him again, "Stay," She whispered, "You're the best pillow ever," She grinned against his tee-shirt.

Troy laughed quietly, "Come on, let's get you into bed," He moved to stand up forcing Gabriella up as well.

"Night Shar," Gabriella mumbled, as she walked past tiredly.

Gabriella directed them into her room, grabbing the shorts and tee-shirt she wore to bed to quickly change in her ensuite bathroom.

Troy sat on the edge of her large double bed and looked over at the photographs she had framed next to her bed. He picked up one and saw it was Gabriella smiling brightly at the camera with both of her arms wrapped around an equally as smiley boy who was taller than Gabriella but had the same skin tone, if not a little darker and the same dark, dark hair.

Gabriella re-appeared, throwing her clothes in the basket on laundry, "Oh," She said, surprised as she saw his studying the picture next to her bed. She walked over and sat next to him, "That's my brother," She confirmed his thoughts.

"Why this photo?" He questioned.

"It was the day he got accepted into his military training," Gabriella pointed to the photo which would stand behind the one Troy was holding on her night stand, "See, that's when he completed his training."

Troy nodded, "Good guy. Where is he now?"

Gabriella shrugged, "Abroad somewhere. He sends letters and calls but he's not allowed to say where exactly."

Troy looked at her from his ducked head, "You miss him?"

Gabriella nodded quietly, "Yeah," She said simply.

"I bet you're proud of him," Troy said, placing the picture back.

"Very, he scares me but I'm proud," Gabriella laughed.

Troy nodded with a smile, "Is he older?"

"Yeah, he's twenty four. This is his last tour. His girlfriend is like 6 months pregnant so he wants to be with them two," Gabriella explained.

"Congrats to them. How long until he's home, will he miss the birth?" He asked.

"He'll be home in two months so hopefully he'll be here."

"That's good timing. Do they know the sex?"

"Nope, it's a surprise. They've kept everything pretty neutral. Does any of your family have babies?" She asked.

Troy shook his head, "Nope, there's a couple who have just started school though."

Gabriella smiled, "Cute," She moved to pulled back her cool duvet and climbed under.

Troy raised his eyebrows and turned more to face her, "Getting comfortable?"

Gabriella grinned and nodded, "Join me?"

Troy gave her a look.

"It's only sleeping," She said sleepily.

Troy chuckled, "Ok," He stood to pull off his jacket, tee-shirt, shorts and socks before climbing into bed, "Oh my god, this bed," He groaned.

Gabriella gave him an amused look, "Its good isn't it?"

"Very," Troy mumbled, relaxing back.

Gabriella laughed, "So tell me something about you," She asked, laying on her side.

Troy copied her movement, "What like?" He questioned, reaching over to draw circles on her hip.

"You know the majority of my life story," Gabriella snickered, "Geez, how embarrassing. So it's only fair you tell me something," She smiled cheekily, moving closer to him,

Troy wrapped his arm a little more securely around her, "But I don't want you to make me leave," He mumbled with a pout.

"Why would I do that? You accepted me."

"Because what you went through just makes me protective over you and want to hold you like this all the time and tell you how proud I am of you. If I tell you a little about my life…" He trailed off.

Gabriella frowned, "I'm not shallow. Just try," She encouraged.

"I know you're not, it's just my insecurities," Troy shrugged.

Gabriella looked up into his eyes, "I won't judge you, I don't have any opinions until I know the full story. Obviously you don't have to tell the full story tonight or at any point.

Troy lay his head down against his bicep to give his head some height, "I had an older brother and two younger when I was eighteen. At twenty-two, I have one older brother and one younger," He cleared his throat, looking over her shoulder to a fairly blank wall, "I had finished my first year at college, I was home for the summer and me and Elliot, my little brother wanted to go out for some food pretty late at night, we'd had dinner but we wanted more. Next thing I wake up in hospital, a few days later with just two brothers. Seeing my parents faces when they told me was the worst. I just went off the rails after I was let out, I did drugs and drank and got myself jailed a couple of nights. My older brother sat me down one day and I remember, he gave me this huge speech on how El's life was cut short and I was just wasting my life. I took a year out of college, went to rehab and sorted myself out. I was clean for about six months and I had the year abroad and now I'm here."

Gabriella's small hand had moved to rest against his cheek, her thumb stroking below his eye, "I'm so sorry, Troy."

Troy smiled softly, "It's ok. It's been two and a half years and I still miss him like crazy."

Gabriella ran her fingers through his hair, "It's only natural. I'm happy that you are who you are today after the last couple of years for you," She told him.

The blue eyed man who was incredibly relaxed let his eyes close as she continued to stroke through his hair, "Do you want me to leave?" He whispered, peeking open an eye.

Gabriella giggled, "No, you look far too relaxed," She teased.

He grinned and cuddled her closer her, "Thanks."

"I'm sorry for everything that has happened to you, you've come out of it probably stronger, I didn't know you before but everyone still seems to like you and I'm drawing from experience," She whispered.

"I miss him so much," He husked, the break in his voice causing him to slightly pausing mid-way through his sentence. His arm squeezing her body gently.

She smiled sadly at his scrunched up eyes, "I can tell, I bet he's proud of you," She stroked the back of his neck with her finger tips.

"Can we sleep?" Troy stated rather than asked.

"Of course," She answered, spinning around and she felt Troy push himself up against her back, effectively spooning her. His heavy arm draping across her waist and her thick curls lay down her back, sending a satisfying scent into Troy's nostrils as he dug his head into her hair.

"I love your hair," He mumbled.

"Thank you," She giggled, "I like you."

"Not love any part of me?" He teased.

"Maybe one day," She hinted.

Troy smiled into the back of her head and accepted her answer which suggested possibly more coffee trips to come. He fell asleep with mixed feelings floating through his body; happy images of a future, satisfied at having a beautiful woman in his arms and a slight sadness that he couldn't rave about this girl all three of his brothers and a pang of jealously at the heaven that had gained his brother.

Similarly, Gabriella drifted over to sleep with mixed emotions; a happiness that Troy had opened up, a sadness for his loss, anticipation for what lay ahead and a very firm image of his muscled body which she tried to shake but felt against her back. However, for both of these young people, a longing of love and adventure and a happy future is what overcame every other feeling and they hoped that they could find that in each other, similarly to the comfort they felt as they lay cuddled together.

* * *

Thank you for reading. Please review. Any feedback; good or bad, would be great.


End file.
